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Transformed Imaginations
Imagination (noun): The faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is Read More
W. Robert Abstein | Read 1 Corinthians 2:12-16
In many of his letters, Paul enumerates a list of the gifts the
Holy Spirit bestows on those who follow Christ. His concern
for the churches he founded and supported through prayer and
letters of encouragement was that their members understand this
profound truth: All have received gifts by the Spirit for building
up the body of Christ, the church.
When I became the rector of a fairly large church, I
responded to the congregants’ call for a “strong leader” with
endless participation in all the committees and activities of
the church. Eighteen months later I was in the hospital with a
stomach condition. My doctor, a friend, said, “I have watched
you since you came to us. I can tell you what is wrong with you
clinically but actually you have a belly full of church!”
My doctor was right. I lay there exhausted believing I had
to do everything because I was the leader. That night in the
hospital I reread Corinthians on the meaning of the body of
Christ. God reminded me that all members have been gifted by
the Spirit. My job involved empowering my church members to
use their gifts for the health of the whole community of faith.
We who follow Christ have been given the Spirit of God
through our baptism. Our faith and wisdom comes through that
avenue. Through spiritual discernment, we employ the mind of
Christ. We begin to walk in a path made bright by God’s gift
of light. We know things only dimly, as Paul says, in this life.
There will come a time when we shall see God in all of God’s
fullness. Each of us has gifts to use for the very purpose we were
called to follow from the beginning.
Grant us, Lord, the wisdom to understand the gifts you have given us and the courage to use them for your sake and to your glory. Amen.
Living genuinely out of a deep inner sense of connectedness to the Trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) is a common theme for this week’s texts. By living out of this spiritual center, we match our actions with our words and avoid the judgment the prophet Isaiah casts upon the people of Israel. Psalm 112 is a hymn of praise for the blessings God brings upon those who revere and follow. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he urges them to move beyond their irtation with wisdom and to go to the deeper regions of the Spirit, the source of true wis- dom. And, nally, Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, calls his listeners to move beyond the mere words of the law to the deep meaning and intent of the law.
• Read Isaiah 58:1-12. When have you felt strengthened by God for a particular task? How did your light “break forth like the dawn”?
• Read Psalm 112:1-10. Where have you been a light to those struggling in the shadows?
• Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-16. When have you faced unimaginable circumstances and had no words to speak? How did God’s wisdom help you in those times?
• Read Matthew 5:13-20. How do you ful ll God’s intended purpose for you as salt and light to the world?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
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