The Spirit Puzzle
by Tyler Zach
Maybe you don’t struggle with jealousy, but I do.
Before I was a Christian I used to struggle with getting jealous over peoples' possessions and popularity. Now that I’m a Christian, I get jealous over other Christians’ talents and personalities and oh yeah…the other things too.
Well, the jealousy over possessions is slowly diminishing by the grace of God, but jealousy towards other Christians always seems to be growing. In church, I sometimes forget about the sermon and start thinking how cool it would be to be so gifted at teaching. (Note: I hope that my pastor isn’t reading this – don’t want to puff up his pride).
There are so many spiritual gifts (like teaching, exhorting, healing, giving, etc.) and I seem to want them all. I desire to be more satisfied and content with the gifts and talents that God has given me. I know that I am uniquely created, but I forget that all the time.
Recently, God has been shedding some light on this issue (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog). To be honest, I am in complete awe. I call it “the Spirit puzzle”.
Each person has been crafted as a piece of one giant puzzle. We will never be a “whole” puzzle so we should just stop trying to look like one. Since I am only a piece, it causes me to depend on the other pieces.
I desire to sit down and listen to my pastor, to watch a student serve another student, to read a sweet article online, to listen to my favorite band…and admire ever piece of the puzzle without wishing that I had those talents too. Because when that happens, I will do less THINKING and more ADMIRING – thus, causing me to worship God instead of thinking constantly about myself.
When God sees the spiritual gift pieces fitting together perfectly it must be so glorifying to Him. But I think that most of the time He is watching the puzzle pieces trying to stretch themselves into something they are not or hopping on top of each other so that the other pieces are hidden.
I have to trust God that He is in fact using the spiritual gifts that He’s given me to further His Kingdom. Actually, I’m pretty happy that I’m not always aware of how He uses me…otherwise I’d probably puff up in pride. But we’ll save that for another blog.
Maybe you don’t struggle with jealousy, but I do.
Before I was a Christian I used to struggle with getting jealous over peoples' possessions and popularity. Now that I’m a Christian, I get jealous over other Christians’ talents and personalities and oh yeah…the other things too.
Well, the jealousy over possessions is slowly diminishing by the grace of God, but jealousy towards other Christians always seems to be growing. In church, I sometimes forget about the sermon and start thinking how cool it would be to be so gifted at teaching. (Note: I hope that my pastor isn’t reading this – don’t want to puff up his pride).
There are so many spiritual gifts (like teaching, exhorting, healing, giving, etc.) and I seem to want them all. I desire to be more satisfied and content with the gifts and talents that God has given me. I know that I am uniquely created, but I forget that all the time.
Recently, God has been shedding some light on this issue (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog). To be honest, I am in complete awe. I call it “the Spirit puzzle”.
Each person has been crafted as a piece of one giant puzzle. We will never be a “whole” puzzle so we should just stop trying to look like one. Since I am only a piece, it causes me to depend on the other pieces.
I desire to sit down and listen to my pastor, to watch a student serve another student, to read a sweet article online, to listen to my favorite band…and admire ever piece of the puzzle without wishing that I had those talents too. Because when that happens, I will do less THINKING and more ADMIRING – thus, causing me to worship God instead of thinking constantly about myself.
When God sees the spiritual gift pieces fitting together perfectly it must be so glorifying to Him. But I think that most of the time He is watching the puzzle pieces trying to stretch themselves into something they are not or hopping on top of each other so that the other pieces are hidden.
I have to trust God that He is in fact using the spiritual gifts that He’s given me to further His Kingdom. Actually, I’m pretty happy that I’m not always aware of how He uses me…otherwise I’d probably puff up in pride. But we’ll save that for another blog.
posted by Tyler Zach at 4:15 PM
1 Comments:
Hello Tyler,
Kevin Teets posted your blog as a link on his blog, and I have enjoyed reading your insights. I, too, have felt spiritual jealousy, and still struggle against that. I think it walks hand in hand with spritual pride; I want so bad for people to see me as a "Good Christian" that I am prone to starting acting the part rather than living the part.
We built a very large house about four years ago because my family wanted it for several reasons. However, I fought against it tooth and nail. Finally, one of my daughters called me a "reverse snob." She said I would proudly live in a double wide trailer, but resisted living in a nice house because of my spiritual pride. OUCH! Hopefully, the Holy Spirit has taught me some lessons from that.
Hang in there! God isn't finished with us yet!
Post a Comment
<< Home