38 John spoke up, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn't in our group." 39 Jesus wasn't pleased. "Don't stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. 40 If he's not an enemy, he's an ally. 41 Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.
No one can bottle God up and keep God contained. God manifests God’s self in unexpected places and people; God’s spirit blows where it will and we know not where it comes from or where it goes.
Any effort on our part to try contain God is futile. God is with those who know not God as well as those who claim to be for God. In fact, they may well be some of God’s best servants!
This is part of the mystery and miracle of God’s spirit at work in our world. We can be astonished by the irregularity of God. It is not ours to judge others; it is ours to recognize the love of Jesus at work where ever it happens in whom ever it comes.
“It has been my experience that what
makes us the saints of God is not our
ability to be saintly but rather God’s
ability to work through sinners.”
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, help me to remember that there is something of Scrooge in me too, and you can still use me in ways beyond my daring to believe.”
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