I’ve been reading Ezekiel lately and one chapter has been jumping out at me for a couple of days now. It’s Ezekiel 16, about the faithless spouse. In this chapter, God speaks about a baby girl who was completely abandoned and left to die. He saved her, took care of her, raised her and when she was older He lavished her with beauty and gifts. Instead of being grateful for the gifts and using them to serve her Creator, she flaunted them – and herself. She used these things to get attention and whore herself. The chapter is an analogy about Israel’s behavior towards the Lord and His word, but I can’t help but feel that it’s relevant in the church today. Especially the western church.

I feel like we are blessed with so many gifts. We’re given daily little miracles pertaining to our personal lives. As a body, we’re given discernment, wisdom, prophecy, the Holy Spirit, revelations, teachings, visions, prayer language, and so much more. We’re given an identity. We’re given a destiny. We’re given an inheritance. So many gifts that we don’t even think about as gifts – most people just think they’re part of Church.

But gifts they are. Precious jewels and jewelry, bestowed upon us by the One who outshines anything this earth could produce.

And yet….too often we cloud our visions and prophecies with our own desires. Too often we scratch our gemstones with our fear and failure to move at God’s command, and we tarnish our gold and silver bracelets with our own agendas. Yes, we may still have some semblance of good. We may still go through the motions. But even if we’re giving generously, if it’s the tarnished and damaged version that we’re giving, it’s not nearly as good .

I don’t want to be a faithless spouse. I don’t want to waste these precious gives. And when I share what I have with others, I want to share my gems with all the brilliance they were created with. I don’t want to share sub-par gifts, dulled and tainted with my own weakness. I don’t want the rest of the church to do so either.

And so today I ask God to search my heart and to guide me as I pray for my own gifts to be restored to their initial flawless state – and for the discipline and obedience required to keep them that way. I ask for guidance in praying the same over the rest of the body. The polishing process isn’t always an easy or a gentle one but the end result is well worth it.

God bless!

~Rebekah A