The Root of Worship
The second part of the body is the faculties. Webster's dictionary defines faculties as "ability, or power". Our faculties are our natural born gifts. It is the inherent abilities that only God can give and take away. Whenever I hear the terms "ability" and "power" used in a biblical context I am always drawn to the parable of the talents.
14"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.
Matt. 25:14 through Matt. 25:15 (NKJV)
The man gave talents to his servants each according to his own ability. The greek word for "ability" is one of the most powerful words in the entire New Testament. It is the word dunamis. It means inherent strength, ability, or power. It is where we get our English word "dynamite". This word is so powerful because it refers to an ability or strength that only comes from God. It is that part of ourselves that we cannot deny, and we cannot manipulate. It is there, inside of us, whether we like it or not. Only God can give it, and only God can take it away.
Now, going back to Romans 12:1, we see that not only are we required to offer our physical bodies as a sacrifice to God, but we are also commanded to offer (to freely give) that inner dunamis that we posses. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 is such an important passage because it is literally a story of three men given the opportunity to worship.
Each of the three men had a God-given ability to take talents and multiply them, but it was left up to each man to determine if he would be faithful with the ability or not. The servant who had been given the least (one talent) failed to do anything with his talent because he said that he "knew his master to be a hard man, reaping where he had not sown, and gathering where he had not scattered seed." He had a one-dimensional view of his master. But I believe the other two servants really knew the master. I believe that they had an intimacy with him that the one-talent servant didn't have. Yes, they knew he was a hard man, but they also knew the rewarding, loving side of him, and that was all the reason that they needed to honor him with their abilities. They understood that offering anything less than everything would be a compromise of their devotion to the master.
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.