Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—

I will admit that at the time I raised my hand at the altar call, I did not see myself as being under the law. I had parents and they had the greatest influence in my life. If I did something that displeased them I got the switch. There was no explanation of why I was being punished, only that I was being punished.

What happened was that approach led me to be cautious. I hid from my parents hoping they would never find out what was in my head. I had never read the bible or had it read in my presence so I did not know that Adam did the same thing when he disobeyed God. Adam hid his face from God.

I was not told what was right, only punished when they were displeased. Was this the reason I was angry all the time with no understanding of why? I don’t know. I may never know.

Then God took my anger away and I had no idea how or why. I was punished without explanation and then suddenly I was healed without explanation. Worse yet I was left alone again trying to sort out what all of that meant. I had no one to teach me from a place of my reality. None of it made sense.

Now I want to address those who have just become children of God and I have no idea what their background, education, problems, or what their needs are.

Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Since I had never heard the scriptures from my parents I had no idea I was a prisoner to sin. I didn’t even know what that meant. I needed a tutor.

Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

Since I had not studied the law, I had no idea of its purpose or effect.

That is my story. What is yours?

Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

The title of this post is “Not Me” because I am not a teacher. At least I do not see myself in those terms. Let me explain.

My dearest friend, a true teacher in every sense, asked me to take over shepherding our life group.. I chose to study Ephesians. I am not sure but that study might have been better served by addressing one chapter a week. It took me a year.

I used my spiritual gift to lead me through that year. That gift was not teaching. At one point the sweetest woman I know said kindly to me “You get more out of one word than anyone I know.”

She was right. I once produced a 500 word essay on the first word in Genesis, “In”. The bible cannot be taught one word at a time. Granted some words do require some explaining but not all of them.

Can a service gift be granted by God to any one of His servants? Given that God can do anything, I cannot deny God’s right to do as He pleases. How would we know if a new gift is granted that we had not seen ourselves?

Others will recognize it, see a need for it, and make room for it in our meetings.

At this point I remind myself that blogging is not a meeting place.

In posting this idea, I am sharing my experiences with everyone. Not every spiritual gift fits every occasion. They have a place and a purpose and should not be used inappropriately.

I discovered my gift was best used by listening and not in being the center of attention.

I share what I hear.