John 6:41-51
...I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
When Jesus said again to the Jews of that time: "I am the bread of life", they still don't understand what he meant. They could only think of the bread on earth. And when Jesus spoke of the spiritual things of heaven, they could only think of the things on earth. Brothers and sisters, we often use fleshly eyes to look at spiritual things, which makes it hard for us to understand the spiritual mysteries of God, and makes it hard for us to experience the richness and preciousness of God.
Even in church, we often use natural things to look at spiritual things. Sometimes we see a brother or sister who has a gentle personality, so we think that person is very spiritual. But in reality, personality is not spirituality. Spirituality is the ability to hear the call of the Holy Spirit. Personality is natural-born. Even though some people don't believe in the Lord, their personality can be very gentle. This does not mean that they have a good spiritual life, because they cannot hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. True spirituality is the ability to hear the call of the Holy Spirit and to understand God's will. Some people may have a hot-tempered personality, but have a good spiritual life. Through the years, their spiritual life becomes more and more intimate with God and their personality will also slowly change.
Similarly, in church we often think that natural abilities are spiritual gifts. We think that this person has good management skills in the company, so he has the spiritual gift of administration. Or this person can sing worship songs very well, so we think that he has the spiritual gift of worship. Because we often mistaken a person's natural abilities as spiritual gifts, so the result is that their spiritual gifts are not able to be manifested. In reality, spiritual gifts are the power to serve by the Holy Spirit. It must be by and from the Holy Spirit and not from natural born abilities or a natural source. Natural abilities should be dedicated to be used by God. I call this "consecrated natural abilities". However, other than "consecrated natural abilities", every one of us has different spiritual gifts. This is the service brought out by the Holy Spirit. When we understand this point, then we can understand how to operate in our spiritual gifts. May God help us to look at things from God's perspective so that our spiritual life can make progress and be expanded!
Pray with Pastor Tong
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