Posted by Favian Ee on February 19, 2008 at 7:37am
One of my pastors who's an evangelist sometimes preaches on spiritual gifts. He distinguishes them from talents, which both believers and unbelievers can have. Spiritual gifts are given only to born-again Christians.At times, he further breaks individual gifts down to their ways of expression. For example, he's a preacher, so his evangelistic gift is exercised in public preaching. Others may have the gift of evangelism, but their personalities are less extroverted and they may express their gift through writing or personal evangelism.Of the spiritual gifts, there are those which can be classified as "speaking gifts" - pastor/teacher, apostleship (or missionary), evangelism, prophet (or preacher). I prefer to think of them as "communicative gifts" as they are used to communicate God's Word to people. The pastor/teacher expounds God's Word and feeds his flock. The apostle brings the Gospel to different peoples and cultures. The evangelist preaches the Gospel all around, and the prophet calls people back to a relationship with God as the prophets of old did. And all these communicative gifts need a medium of communication, be it speaking from the pulpit, literature, music, or even (you guessed it!) comics!Comics, being a communication medium, can be used effectively to bring others into a relationship with God, or to deepen their walk with Him. But being able to write and draw comics is a talent that even unbelievers have. Apart from the Spirit's leading and power, the result can be spiritually hazardous and even death-dealing.What makes an effective Christian cartoonist different is 1) the content, 2) the motivation, and 3) the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. To produce good content, the artist needs to be skillful in God's Word and Spirit-filled. The right motivation comes from a humble heart and healthy walk with the Lord. And the guidance and power of the Spirit finds its source in a heart that is wholly yielded to His leading. When a comic artist/writer exercises his/her spiritual gift in the power of the Spirit through his/her talent, the impact can be tremendous.
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