Let’s Just Go Ahead

Scripture: Romans 12 (Click Link) 5 The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body… So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, 6 let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t… (Romans 12:5-6 MSG) Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be. Paul, this sounds simple, so simple it seems almost impossible to work out in real life. But in the context of Paul’s analogy of the church as the Body of Christ with each of us being an individual body part, it makes perfect sense. Eyes are eyes and look and see. Noses smell. Ears hear. Fingers are flexible and do finger stuff. So let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be!

I remember a story Jean told when she was teaching at the Bible Training Centres in Kingston and London about a school for animals. In this school every effort was made to help the animals be good at what needed doing. So the ducks were taught to climb trees, the squirrels were taught to swim, the sheep were taught to pull wagons, the crows were taught to run, and the pigs were taught to fly! Silly isn’t it? Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be! I’m thankful for the emphasis in many churches on helping people discover their spiritual gifts and the importance of learning who God made us to be and how he has gifted us to serve. I know that can be taken to extremes, with people having to run through a complicated battery of tests before they can be allowed to do anything at all, or with people becoming unwilling to simply serve because “It’s not my gift!” But let’s do whatever it takes for us to “..just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t!” Prayer: Father, There have been a lot of times when I wished you had made me a different “body part” and had given me different gifts, a different personality, or a different “everything!” I am going on record today that I gratefully accept who I am and how you’ve made me and where I fit in the Body of Christ. Please help me to use the rest of my life – every gift you’ve put in me and every opportunity you place before me – to be what you made me to be and to encourage others to do the same. Amen.