Moravians

While I was living in Colorado Springs, I was told this story about the Moravian movement:

There were two young men from Hernhut, Germany who found out there was a population of about 2000-3000 slaves who never heard the Gospel preached.  It wasn't allowed on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas where they resided. Distraught by the news and wanting to be obedient, they sold themselves into slavery for the price of a one-way ticket to St. Thomas.

Their friends and family came to see them off knowing full well they would never see each other again.  As they set off, one of the young men yelled to them, "May the lamb that was slain receive the reward for his suffering."

LEGIT!

Am I willing to sacrifice myself for the sake of what Christ did for me? Do I feel the sense of urgency to reach out to those who don't know His story?

Scale it back a little bit:

Do I even have an inkling of the sacrifice Christ went through to make a way for me?

For Today

The charismatic gifts of the Spirit are for today. I'll just boldly put that out there.

Where did this come from?  It came from one measly sentence in a short chapter on the New Testament in this really dry book I'm reading for class.  Mmm...love it! It says this: "Paul did not instruct the Corinthians to stop speaking in tongues; he simply asked that they recognize the proper place of tongues in worship..."

It reminded me of a class I had while I was living in Colorado Springs...a class designated to debate on the issues that divide the Church. The issue we just skipped over because we were all "pretty much on the same page" was the debate on whether or not all tongues shall cease or the charismatic gifts were meant for today.

I think 1 Corinthians 14:15-17 is a good example to follow:

15 Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.

16 For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don't understand you praise God along with You? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don't understand what you are saying?

17 You will be giving thanks very well, but it won't strengthen the people who hear you.

Charismatic gifts are not a bad thing at all...if in context of what is most edifying to the Body.  When we engage in worship God drenches us in His love, and all He asks in return is for us to respond.  That could be in our natural tongue or the intimate, supernatural tongue.  

Now, if this is not a gift you posses, does that make you any less spiritual?  Heck no!  That was something I struggled with for a long time.  Interning at a very charismatic church where many other interns were very vocal with their prayer languages made me feel small at times.  It's not that they frowned upon me for not "speaking their language" but in some ways felt like they elevated themselves.  

Spiritual gifts are only effective with Christ in the center of it.  Without Him, without love, we are the resounding gongs Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13:1

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal