One God fits All
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and
there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of
activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
My mom was very creative and could come up with some good
ideas to keep us all busy and entertained. One summer she was taking painting
lessons and decided to share the joy. She opened up the garage door and set up
card tables and portable easels. She gathered me and my sister, a few assorted
friends and my two grandmothers. She talked us through the process of creating
the painting. It was a fun day together and at the end we each had a painting.
What struck me at the time was that even though we were all working together
and doing the same steps, all the pictures came out very different. I almost
wondered if we had been in the same class at all.
It is tempting to see God as a one size fits all God. We do
what he says and he meets our needs. We can see it as cut and dried. The
reality is quite different. He deals with different people differently and with
one person differently from one time to the next. Start with Moses. One time He
has him strike the rock and another speak to it to get water. When he called
the apostles he approached each one differently. Although there were several
blind men healed, they were healed in different ways, such as speaking the cure(Mark
10:52), touching the person’s eyes (Matt. 20:34), and spitting and making clay
to put on the person’s eyes (John 9:6). Also, while some were completely healed
immediately others took time, such as the man who said first he saw trees walking
around and then saw properly. (Mark
8:23-25) Also, his approach to someone like the woman caught in adultery was
completely different from his approach to the Pharisees.
He does the same
thing today. I hear small things from God all the time such as songs,
scriptures, insights, and a still small voice. My friend who is hard of hearing
has a hard time understanding what she reads, but she has dreams where she has
insights from God. My child is much more likely to hear from God in spurts
rather than a constant stream. Why would God do this? He tells us that we are
part of a body and that we all have different gifts. He told Jeremiah in
Jeremiah 1:9 that he had set him apart before he was born to be a prophet. He
loves us individually and has plans for each of us. (Jeremiah 29:11. Like the
paintings were all similar but different, so is each believer’s walk with God
unique and special to him. God knows us
from the inside out because he created us and knows how we think and work.
We need to understand this and not judge how God relates to
another person. I am not saying all roads lead to heaven. I am saying that
because someone’s interaction with God does not mirror mine that does not make
them wrong. Enjoy your walk with a creative God who loves you as his precious
child.
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