Parrot or Power Cord

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Last week while we were going door to door in the lovely Honduras town of Monte Redundo, we ran into a strange situation. Outside of their little shack, this sweet family we were visiting had a fully grown parrot. This parrot was huge and vibrantly arrayed in color. The sweet Donia (or lady of the house) had to show us the parrot's trick before we left. She could get the bird to say Hola very clearly after she had greeted the bird with the same Spanish words. Her faced beamed wide with a smile after her hard work of training the bird had paid off. The bird even had a great Spanish accent to its Hola. I thought it was a pretty neat deal, and we had a great time encouraging the family in Christ.

Have you ever thought that alot of what we try to do in Church mirrors this woman and her bird. We try to get people to repeat what we want them to say and when they do it perfectly in line with our denominational creed we are happy. I feel like this happened to me a lot in my youth. I ha dmany people telling me what I should say and think, I just do not recall an overabundance of Power, Faith and contagious love backing those words up. Paul's words are clear in the above verses. The Gospel of Christ is far more than understandings, beliefs and repetition. It is power. Amazing power that overcomes all challengers.

Obviously any analogy falls short of the man-God relationship, but doesn't it make sense for us as His disciples to think the walk of a disciple to be more of a "power cord" that plugs into the "power source" of life itself, Jesus the Messiah? If He and His power truly overcomes death, and it does, this power is an active living thing that is high voltage and awesome in design. It is acquired by communion as we plug into Him by His blood and Spirit. Power cords are worthless without the power source, and so are we. If they are not plugged into the power source, there is no power going through them, they are just empty pieces of wire and rubber. However , if they are plugged in, they can convey that power to the extent of there length to any body else that is "plugged in". Power cords are fulfilled with and transporters of Power. So are Christ followers.

So what is going on with you? Is your goal to memorize a bunch of stuff to say the right thing about Christ? Or are you plugged into Christ and feel His power coursing through your life as your faith is built by Him and for Him?

Don't get me wrong, memory verses are a great Holy Discipline that I practice. They are a means to an end though. They exist to point you to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are in communion with Him, you have His power even if it is in a fragile jar of your body.

Parroting information gets us no where. As Paul says in 1 Cor 1:18, the power of God saves us from our sins.

Would you best describe your walk as a Parrot or a Power Cord?