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This past year, I got together with several friends from church to start a "prayer crew". We met together on Sunday evenings to pour out our hearts to God, to lift up our church in prayer, and be open to how God could speak to us during that time. Out of that group developed our current "small group" that meets weekly in one of our homes, for Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and service. We have grown closer as friends, and it's been a huge blessing to all of us. We've become more attached...connected...together.
Jesus designed His body for connectedness, both for edification and service. Collectively, we are on mission for God. And He gives us all gifts, abilities, and passions to accomplish His work in the world. There are arms, legs, ears, eyes, etc., to His "body", and each works with the others to operate. That is, if we're willing to work together. Sometimes, either low self-esteem or inflated egos keep Christ's body from being the well-oiled machine it should be.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
~ 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 (NIV)
Thinking less of yourself or too highly of yourself can sabotage the body of Christ. You will pull away and detach, either because you just don't think you have anything worthwhile to contribute, or you think you're too good to hang with a bunch of lame-o "misfits". And a detached eyeball is a little hard on the eyesight, don't you think?
We like to measure ourselves against other people, don't we? I don't know why we do, because it's really a destructive habit, but we do. Usually we end up feeling bad about ourselves, because there's always someone who can do "it" better. Sometimes, we get lofty in our own minds and think we do "it" better than the next guy. Talk about auto immune disease! No better way for a body to turn on itself in self-destruct mode than to rate ourselves on the basis of how others are made and what they're doing.
God made you to be you. Not me, not your pastor, not Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. You. And you have a place, a fit, in the body of Christ. Do not discount in any way the vital role you play in the lives of others and in the life of Christ. Can you imagine what your local church would look like if each member latched onto the amazing, liberating knowledge that they belong and can contribute to create beauty, God's beauty, in the lives of others?!?
Jesus designed His body for connectedness, both for edification and service. Collectively, we are on mission for God. And He gives us all gifts, abilities, and passions to accomplish His work in the world. There are arms, legs, ears, eyes, etc., to His "body", and each works with the others to operate. That is, if we're willing to work together. Sometimes, either low self-esteem or inflated egos keep Christ's body from being the well-oiled machine it should be.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
~ 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 (NIV)
Thinking less of yourself or too highly of yourself can sabotage the body of Christ. You will pull away and detach, either because you just don't think you have anything worthwhile to contribute, or you think you're too good to hang with a bunch of lame-o "misfits". And a detached eyeball is a little hard on the eyesight, don't you think?
We like to measure ourselves against other people, don't we? I don't know why we do, because it's really a destructive habit, but we do. Usually we end up feeling bad about ourselves, because there's always someone who can do "it" better. Sometimes, we get lofty in our own minds and think we do "it" better than the next guy. Talk about auto immune disease! No better way for a body to turn on itself in self-destruct mode than to rate ourselves on the basis of how others are made and what they're doing.
God made you to be you. Not me, not your pastor, not Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. You. And you have a place, a fit, in the body of Christ. Do not discount in any way the vital role you play in the lives of others and in the life of Christ. Can you imagine what your local church would look like if each member latched onto the amazing, liberating knowledge that they belong and can contribute to create beauty, God's beauty, in the lives of others?!?
Do you see construct in the abstract? Do you see beauty in the chaos? Don't worry, God does. He knows exactly what He's doing. God's canvas is vast, and He uses His entire palette for His glory and His purposes. So if you're a purple, be all the purple you can be -- shades of violet, lavender, even periwinkle! If you're a red, splash across the sky with crimson, rose and brick!
God has called you to be a member of His body, a color on His palette -- you are a vital part of Him and other fellow believers. I pray you can embrace your place and your part in His body and on His canvas, because we all need each other to fulfill God's purposes.
Love,
Joelene
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