Spiritual Guides

Do you know Jesus has given you gifts to help you navigate this world?  My most precious gifts are my children.  I do not want them to be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14).  Jesus didn’t just die for our sins and rise from the dead and ascend into Heaven and sit on a throne to watch us flip and flop and struggle.  Jesus sent the Helper – the Holy Spirit and He also sent gifts He bestows on His people to serve as guides, coaches, mentors, teachers along the way.  Every parent hopes his or her children have good guides in life.  God as our Good Father has gifted us with guides.  Are you looking for people like this?  Are you asking the Lord to make you a person like this? 

Paul says Jesus gifted the church with apostles and prophets and evangelists and shepherds and teachers to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ephesians 4:12-13). 

My overactive imagination begins to picture people like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings or Yoda from Star Wars.  Yoda trained Luke and then Luke became a Jedi.  Gandalf took Frodo and Sam and Merry and Pippin – four Hobbits with little to no talent and guided them to save Middle Earth.  Jesus is the Hero all the time, but Jesus has gifted the church with helpers, guides, mentors to help us reach unity, help us know Jesus better, protect us from false teaching, so the body will grow in love. 

A very sad thing is a gift that remains unopened.  Are you taking advantage of the gifts Jesus has made available to you?  Do you have spiritual “Gandalfs” and “Yodas?”  These people “equip us to do the work of the ministry.”  I can think of many “Gandalfs” and “Yodas” in my life, and I have no idea where I would be without them.   

So, as we gather to worship this coming Sunday may our praises be solely focused on Jesus – the Giver of gifts, but may we also look around and thank Jesus for the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers who equip us and guide us to unity of purpose in knowing Jesus better. 

See you Sunday, 

Steven