For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7
I had a wonderful opportunity yesterday to share in the ordination service of a wonderful friend and ministry partner. The day started rather inauspiciously with a flat tire repair. However the beautiful location of the Annual Western Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church gathering more than made of for the trials experienced in the morning. I could say that the idyllic setting of Lakeside, or the wonderful hospitality of our friend, indeed of the entire Western Ohio Conference, or event the wonderful ice cream and coffee offered by the local shops was the highlight of the day. However Bishop Gregory Palmer came to the podium and served up a message that should be listened to by every minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere. “It’s a gift”! I believe that I was in the majority of people who were gathered to celebrate the “accomplishment” of ordination for our friends or family members. Bishop Palmer reminded us that it is at times like these that we tend to “smell our selves”, in my family we might have said “get too big for our britches”. We grab onto this wonderful accomplishment that we have achieved and forget that everything we have, everything we are and everything that we do is a gift from God. We forget that it all starts and emanates from the cross and the great gift of salvation by faith, not by any works that we could possibly conceive to “accomplish”. Whether it is ordination, the growth of a church or the establishment of a ministry these are all gifts. It is when we start to “smell ourselves” and rest on the great things that we have done that the trouble starts. We stake out territories. We begin to do things to extend our accomplishments that hurt the heart of God and create strife within the body of Christ. We demean others as less important than ourselves, justifying our manipulation or even persecution of them, all because we lose sight of the fact that “It’s all a gift”.
What a wonderful opportunity all of us who have been entrusted with such a gift have. Whether we are ordained, licensed or simply called the children of God we have this opportunity, this day, this moment to share all this that we have received from the hand of our gracious Lord and Savior. “It’s all a gift!”
Fan Into Flame Ministries 