I heard a speaker recently talk about ministry as a fusion of calling and gifting. Both the call and the gifting are given by God to those he chooses to minister to his church. And both the calling and the gifting must be operational for ministry to be effective.

It has been my observation that the amount of control that a person attempts to exert over their environment is directly proportional to their level of insecurity. Insecure people feel a need to control their environment and those around them.

Jesus warned us that there would be people in our churches with improper motives for being there. The parable of the wheat and tares is one place where Jesus makes this distinction.

Our disagreements and discussions operate like the chisel of a sculptor. They are used to remove the stuff that mars the image that the creator sees in us.