Not one, but many ...

What are our gifts?
What are the things that we do for God that give us strength?
What is it that we do in community for which the community relies upon us?
Think on these questions as you meditate on the word of the Lord:

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.

If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

But strive for the greater gifts.

Blessings,

Ron

Live in love ...

Today, let Paul’s words to the Ephesians be a charge to us for the week:

So then, putting away falsehood,
let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors,
for we are members of one another.

Be angry but do not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and do not make room for the devil.

Thieves must give up stealing;
rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands,
so as to have something to share with the needy.

Let no evil talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is useful for building up, as there is need,
so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were marked with a seal
for the day of redemption.

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath
and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice,
and be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,
a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

One by one, Paul lists the struggles that confronted those
he loved in Ephesus, his sisters and brothers.
He had his struggles, too, after all.
So for each temptation he gives a practice
that stands in opposition, practices which do not
attempt to make weaknesses into strengths, but
which cover weaknesses with existing strengths.

He does not try to shut the mouth of the extrovert,
but to have them become talkative about the truth.
He does not try to quench the feelings of the emotional,
but to have them focus on the emotions that bring
peace and healing to relationships.

All of this is done to help us become more like Jesus,
not so that we will be worthy of being chosen,
because we have already been chosen.
We are already children of God.
We do this so that we can “live in love,” so we can:
be easy for our sisters and brothers to work alongside,
be attractive for strangers to come alongside,
be aware of the movement of God and stay by his side.

May God help us use our strengths today
to work around our weaknesses,
not to deny them, but to disempower them.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Ephesians 4:25-5:2