PASTOR’S NOTES – JUNE 1998
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NRSV)
All of us are created a little differently, and most of us don’t fully appreciate the differences. I remember talking with a member of a previous church about a “talent” we both shared. Both of us had a good memory for numbers. For me, if I have to dial a person’s phone number more than twice within a couple of days, it is memorized, whether I want to remember it or not. For both of us, I guess that should make us good accountants, but it often seemed a useless talent. We both moaned about how hard it was to remember names and the really important information. Maybe if I tried to convert everything to a number I could remember…
We look at the world in different ways; some people tend to see the details, some the bigger picture. Some related mostly to what they see; some mostly through what they hear. Some are exhausted after dealing with people; some get exhausted being alone. Some deal with the facts; some focus on how it feels. Some make decisions easily and maybe hastily; some put off decisions as long as possible. In addition to these kinds of differences, we know that our faith experience is different also.
This means that not only do others have a different kind of faith than you, for many of them their experience of God will never be quite like yours. Your testimony and experience is helpful for others, but we can only go as far to say, “This is how it is for me.” There are some that suspect that if you have not had a truly dramatic event in your life when Jesus turned your life around, they question whether you have a faith. This is not much different from persons who believe everyone should be a door-to-door evangelist just like them, or that everyone should have the same experience in speaking in tongues as they’ve had, even though the Corinthians passage on the first page suggests otherwise.
I have asked many people over the years to tell me about their faith story. And while some can boldly speak of a dramatic event and can remember the exact date and time, many hesitated to answer because their experience was not like that at all. Now for some it is because they have not been open to the Holy Spirit in their lives. There is a lot they could learn and lot of encouragement they could get by hearing about the experience of others. But for many there is a faith, even though it is less dramatic than Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19). Most of us who hit bottom in our lives don’t want our children to make the same mistakes. We don’t want them to grow up without knowing love in their lives. The result is that there are many who have been in the church all their lives, have always known that Jesus loved them, have never had a major rebellious time in their lives, and the biggest struggle was making their parent’s faith their own. Jacob Albright, the founder of the Evangelical Association (the “E” of the E.U.B. church) was one who said his experience of Christ was one that moved by small degrees throughout his life with no major turning points. A dramatic faith experience was never necessary; he was taught and loved by faithful parents and Church teachers.
Now this does not mean that everyone’s faith is where it could be. I wish that all of us would be open to God’s leading in our lives: whether it is subtle or dramatic, and whether they’ve had anything like it in the past.
It is all the more important to tell our story. It is OUR story and it’s the gift we have to share. When you tell someone what they should believe or how they should live, they can argue with you, they can say you don’t understand (and they’re usually right). Arguments about issues can sidetrack you. But when you say, “This is what’s happened to me…” there is no argument. And we don’t have a good defense against the personal witness of others.
A preacher told a story in church about a Christian in another country who sold his eyes to help pay for the hospital in their village. Monday morning, he got a call. “We hate you, Bill. Neither of us could sleep last night, we thought about that person’s sacrifice. We decided that we would double the amount we’ve been giving to missions; we’ve been saving some money for a new house, we decided that we would turn that over to the Lord…” After they told about their reaction, the preacher said, “Well, now I hate you. I slept like a baby last night. Now I’ve got to take another look at this…” You can argue with someone about almost anything, except how Jesus has changed their life.
There is no one quite like you. It would seem that this would make our experience less important for others, but the opposite is true. You’ve got your story to tell, and only you can tell it.
Peace,
