28 September 2012
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We need each other...
The answer may seem cliche, but it's because He made you special. There is nobody else on earth like you, possessing your gifts, acting upon your thoughts and emotions. Everything about you may appear unexciting on the outside, but to God, you are a masterpiece continuously displaying the wonderful work of His creation.
How do I know? Because in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul devotes a sizable portion to this specific topic of "spiritual gifts" and the functions we have as the body of Christ. God loves us, yes, but there is so much more to our lives than simply existing in His affections. We were given our individual personalities for a reason! The Lord never does anything just for the heck of it. As human beings, we are automatically samples of His majesty and mirror images of our Creator Himself, but as Christians we are also given responsibilities. When God was putting you together in heaven, He put inside a flawless recipe that would become your personality. That personality was specially given to you so that you would use it.
Wouldn't it have been easier for God to make everybody the same? That way we would all get along, and we would never be jealous of anybody else's abilities, right? Wrong. As distinct individuals, we all come together like puzzle pieces to create something bigger than us all: it's called Christ. Thinking of little, insignificant me as part of Jesus sounds more than a little absurd, but nevertheless, when Jesus hung dying on that cross, He broke down the wall between Himself and all of us so that when the Father looks at us, with all our sins and flaws, He sees Jesus.
Looking at 1 Corinthians 12, Paul tells us, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." Think of any successful movement in history, the key element was an integrated group of people. We were born with a need for companionship for this very reason. This is why studies show that babies deprived of physical touch actually die from depression.
"For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave of free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." In one succinct sentence, Paul completely dismisses any discrimination between race or class in God's eyes. We were all transformed by the same Spirit so that we might be acceptable into the body, regardless of our record of wrongs. One of my favorite passages in Romans reads, "And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you." That power that miraculously raised Jesus from the dead over 3000 years ago? That power is living in you! That same Spirit that hovered over the waters in Genesis 1, it not only exists inside of you and me, it lives, it thrives, it keeps us going from day to day. It's not about who you have become in this life, it's what you were made to be a part of. The big picture.
"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." That accursed force of nature: self-doubt. We are amazing beings, obtaining unlimited potential from the Creator of the universe, yet we refuse to believe it. There's always that voice in the back of our minds saying, "You're not good enough."
Quite frankly, that's your sin talking. It might be more convenient to blame it on Satan, but the Devil has more important things to do than whisper in your ear. Instead of coddling us, however, Paul basically says, "get over it". Just because I'm not content in my place doesn't excuse me from the responsibilities I have in Christ. I cannot say, "I don't like my place in my family, so I'll leave," and then expect to have shed my responsibilities to them by simply walking away. No matter where I go or what I do, my dad and mom will still be my parents, and my brother will still be my brother. Even in completely throwing away my duties as the daughter of the family, I would still be abandoning those duties every single day that I ignore them. It's the same way with Christ. Funny thing about us...we think that if we can't see something in front of us that it doesn't exist. Or at least we tell ourselves that.
Quite frankly, that's your sin talking. It might be more convenient to blame it on Satan, but the Devil has more important things to do than whisper in your ear. Instead of coddling us, however, Paul basically says, "get over it". Just because I'm not content in my place doesn't excuse me from the responsibilities I have in Christ. I cannot say, "I don't like my place in my family, so I'll leave," and then expect to have shed my responsibilities to them by simply walking away. No matter where I go or what I do, my dad and mom will still be my parents, and my brother will still be my brother. Even in completely throwing away my duties as the daughter of the family, I would still be abandoning those duties every single day that I ignore them. It's the same way with Christ. Funny thing about us...we think that if we can't see something in front of us that it doesn't exist. Or at least we tell ourselves that.
"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?" We need each other's individual, hand-crafted functions/gifts. Trading in your God-given gift would deprive the whole puzzle a whole piece; it could never be complete; it could never be whole. Do not feel inferior or out of place because you have a gift different from somebody else's. It can be easy to fall prey to this envy when other people make their abilities look so easy, so attractive.
Hugging was my deal for a long time. Girls I knew would throw their arms around each other with abandon, and I would kind of step back and hope that I wasn't the next target. Still, deep down I wished I could be like those girls: able to radiate love with a single action. But that was their gift, not mine. And now I can see that that's OK.
Hugging was my deal for a long time. Girls I knew would throw their arms around each other with abandon, and I would kind of step back and hope that I wasn't the next target. Still, deep down I wished I could be like those girls: able to radiate love with a single action. But that was their gift, not mine. And now I can see that that's OK.
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"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." By definition, "body" is "a number of individuals regarded as a single entity." Each edge of a puzzle piece has either a flat side, a little arm or two that stick out, or an empty space that scoops into the piece's side. Where one piece lacks, another piece fits perfectly, filling that empty space and by so doing making both pieces even larger and more significant than before. When every piece fills and fits into its designed location, the puzzle is complete.
Can you see where I'm going with this? I'm not the kind of person who can joyfully run up and hug anybody anywhere, but I do have the capacity for listening to others talk about the things they're going through. Perhaps those girls lack that ability so they display their affections in a very outward manner. Together, we complete one another. :)
God has put you right where He wants you. We all work together to be Christ to this world, completing one another where we might have short-comings. You cannot dismiss your brother or sister in Christ, for he/she is a crucial piece to the puzzle, a vital ingredient in the recipe that is our lives. Even the smallest most taken for granted function is irreplaceable, regardless of whether we realize it or not. As French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin so eloquently put it, "We are one, after all, you and I, together we suffer, together exist and forever will recreate each other."
