God does not do magic!

One thing that I have learnt for sure over the years is that God is not a magician. Or in other words, he will not perform magic tricks to entertain us. If we look to Him just to get certain things done, He will not oblige us the way we would like Him to. He has certain things in His mind regarding us and all His gifts are not just to make us feel happy. His gifts which are a sign of His great love for us, has other purposes too. When He fed the five thousand, he wanted to reveal Jesus as the Bread of Life. When Jesus calmed the storm. He rebuked His disciples for not learning about faith in God. We desperately need to learn the principles in which God is pleased to operate. If we seek healing, we need to learn how to maintain faith and how to prepare our body and mind for the healing. If we seek physical blessing, we need to make sure it is for the glory of God. O how we need to learn His ways. He seeks more from us than what we think we have. Only He can bring it forth from us. 

To serve or not to serve!

There are some people in the church who have the gift of serving others. They will go out of the way to do good and have a sacrificial outlook in life. I then began to see that it may not be a sign of maturity in Christ but that it is a gift operating in them. Slowly I noticed that there are other not-so-visible signs that show lack of true Christian maturity. Now, that gave me some relief but I saw that I really did not have a great gift of service as mentioned in Romans 12:7. However all is not lost because as I grow in God, I move out of a place of self-centeredness and into a realm where I can receive grace to love and to serve others. I do not have to see how sacrificial others are. It may be a gift or it may be a sign of true Christian growth. Whatever the case, if I do not have the gift, I can still cultivate the fruit. I do not have an option. I have to become more Christlike. I have to 'love my neighbour as myself'. It is part of the great commandment. In fact, it is part of the only true commandment in the New Testament.