After explaining my reasons to her, she finally complied. However, as we were on the way to church she hit me with the most serious question to date:
“Daddy, if I have to mind you and Mama, which one of you is stronger?” I almost ran off the road. My wife, turning to me silently (but sternly), mouthed the words, “Answer her!”
I took a deep breath, breathed a prayer to God, and responded.
“Well, baby, Mama and me are both the same strength. You see, we’re a team, but we do different things.”
I went on to explain—to my little lawyer, hair-splitting daughter—that although her mother and I do different things and are different people, ultimately we are the same. We’re her parents. Upon hearing this, my daughter silently stared at me for what seemed like an eternity. Then, straightening the princess dress of the doll she was clutching, muttered, “Okay.” Crisis averted.
However silly this story is, it serves to illustrate the point of the Trinity. The Bible clearly tells us that there is one God, comprised of a unity of three co-eternal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26 and Isaiah 6:8). God, in His totality, is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His loving self-revelation. Each member of the Trinity has specific job duties and responsibilities, but no one Person is more powerful or important than the others.
Jesus, Himself, referenced this fact as He was giving the disciples their assignment to spread the good news of His salvation to the entire world: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NLT).
Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers, writing to other Jesus followers, put it like this: “God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2, NLT).
I recognize that we, as humans, can’t definitively say who God is, and admittedly, humanity has often represented Him rather poorly—just read any history book, log onto any social media outlet, or turn on the news, for that matter. However, in the midst of all the brokenness that we call this world, you can still seek, wait for, and listen for God—and, I promise you—if you take the time to ask for God’s presence, and listen, you will find Him.
Her mother and I were sitting at the dining room table, knee-deep in our monthly paying-bills-a-thon. Okay, in all fairness I was just sitting there and my wife was the one crunching the numbers and working it all out. That’s what she’s great at. Before I could turn and respond, my wife looked up from balancing our checkbook and calmly responded.
“Honey, we each use our natural gifts to help keep our home and family running smoothly. You work at a restaurant, and you’re going to college for culinary arts—that’s what you’re good at, and we all appreciate it.”
That seemed to silence my daughter.
Granted, this is a simplistic, but effective example of how God wants to use spiritual gifts to bless every member of His family, the Christian Church. The moment someone becomes a Jesus follower, God, through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:11), gives them a spiritual gift—a special and unique skill that each member is to use, both for the common good of the church and of all humanity.
“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well” (Romans 12:4-6a, NLT).
It’s the job of the Holy Spirit to give those gifts, but the job of the Christian to discover what it is. According to the Bible, these gifts include pastors, evangelists, teachers, faith, healing, prophecy, proclamation, administration, reconciliation, compassion, and self-sacrificing service and charity for the help and encouragement of people. When the entire church works together, the church is strengthened, unified, and every member is able to mature as a Christian.
After the movie ended, we sat and “debriefed” with her why she felt the need to share the ending—before the ending. Our daughter is so tender-hearted that when she saw the look of anxiety on her mother’s face, she wanted to come to her rescue and help her feel better, so she shared the…well, you already know.
Although this incident made for an awkward family movie night, it illustrates a deeper truth. God, in all His love for us, seeing our anxiety and worry in this broken world, seeks to increase our faith in Him and remove our fear of the future by giving us His “Spoiler Alerts” for how things will end. He does this through special people He calls, “prophets,” to whom He gives the gift of prophecy. “Indeed, the Sovereign LORD never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7, NLT). The Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, is filled with examples of prophets (Hebrews 1:1).
The Bible makes it clear that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of God’s last-day church and it was powerfully witnessed in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible—and the Bible alone—is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.
