The other week Google prompted me to load a whole lot of information for my account - I added some innocuous things and in typical Google fashion one of the questions was - which Superpower would you like. I thought about this for a minute and decided that lazer eyes and superspeed might be nice but not terribly helpful so I went for bilocation - being in two places at once!!
Sometimes we think of saints and especially Apostles as some sort of super-heroes with magical powers which we just do not have. They certainly must have has a set of gifts which set them apart for their ministry - but all their gifts were just that - something given by God to accomplish a task which they willingly undertook.
Yesterday we read the story of David and Bathsheba which is stunning for its sheer brutality. David cold-bloodedly has a man killed to further his own ends and protect himself. It is not a nice story - and yet David is a hero in Israel. Samuel and Kings operate on a sort of balance system - so if a king does more good than bad then he will be judged to have done what it right in the eyes of the Lord.
Whilst I am not suggesting that we should keep a score sheet for ourselves with good and bad columns - and whilst we definitely should not do that for other people - there is a point in noticing that the Bible records people in both their good and bad moments - this does not excuse the terrible things that some of them get up to - but it should make us realize that God calls all sorts of people and calls all of us to repentace.
God also equips God's people for service. The Apostles were called, formed and equipped - they are not superhuman. We too can be called, formed and equipped - if only we can trust that our sheer humanity is everything that God wants and needs.
No comments:
Post a Comment