Isn't it amazing how something said almost in passing can literally "stop a person in his tracks" and really change a person's thinking?
Has that ever happened to you? It has me and I am going to share the nugget of wisdom that was passed along to me a year or so ago by my friend, Chris Rowland. Chris probably won't even remember the conversation, and she can't know how much those few words she spoke that day impacted me.
I was sharing with her one day in a quick conversation that we just happened to pick up in passing, that I wasn't sure I was really getting anything out of the discussions we'd been having in our SaLT Group Bible Study and I didn't think I was going to go one night. (Really, it was probably just a lame excuse because I didn't feel like going.) Chris said to me, "What makes you think you are supposed to get something out of SaLT? Maybe we are supposed to get something from you."
Chris and I went on about our day going separate ways, but what she said struck a chord in me. I'm the type of person that really ponders and thinks about things when they are spoken to me, and that just wouldn't let me go. The Holy Spirit convicted me, and used Chris Rowland to point out an error in my thinking at that time. What she said was also a springboard for me to start utilizing my spiritual gifts the way they were intended to be used when God gave them to me.
Armed with the understanding that as I study my Bible, God will reveal things to me for the sole purpose of helping others' see truth, I can use my gifts to edify the Body and glorify God. It is my part in the Body of Christ! It's not about me! Ever since that talk with Chris, I have approached Bible study differently and understand that God may use me during our SaLT Group meeting times to impart a word to another person. He may not, but it is my responsibility to prepare myself appropriately and be willing to use my gift at all times.
What Chris said to me opened my eyes to see that I need to be available to God and be obedient to share with others what He reveals to me. Over the course of this past year, as I have learned to share more and more, it is quite possible that something I've passed along has impacted somebody else profoundly. I'm not saying that to toot my own horn, because I'm not, it's all God anyway, but I am saying it to point out that God may have charged you with speaking truth into somebody else's life, and you need to be obedient to tell what you know.
So, I ask you, the reader, what makes you think you are supposed to get something out of _________? Maybe we are supposed to get something from you."
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Sue,
ReplyDeleteI could probably write a sequel to this with the lessons I have learned over the years. I was talking to my dear pastor and brother, Chuck a couple weeks ago. He asked me how things were going in my church. I told him the same as it was the last time we talked. I told him that we didn't feel sure that God was calling us to go anywhere else at this time..even though we're not sure we are where we are supposed to be for any length of time. I spent many years in need of many things including spiritual growth. I was fed well. Now, even though things aren't going the way "I" think they should...I understand 1. that it's not about me and 2. There was a time in my life where I needed things from the church. Now I feel like it's time to give back...or pay it forward. It's not about meeting my needs. It's about responding appropriately to God's call and being obedient to His will, honoring Him in all I say and do.