Daily Butter 7/24: Body Work

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (7/24/11):

 

Based on the gift they have received, everyone should use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. (1 Peter 4:10 HCSB)

 

It doesn’t take a college degree to understand the people are designed to be social beings -- from the beginning we were made in the image of the Triune God who is in His very nature communal, and He found the only thing that was not good in his creation was that “It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) Anne Cetas reminded us in today’s ODB entitled “Stay Close”: “Although Jesus is our best friend, we also need relationships with fellow believers to help us survive in this life.”

 

I know since my jobs at times make me unable to attend worship or Bible study for a week of sometimes several weeks that my spirit needs that interaction. From that experience, I’ll take the reminder of Anne Cetas one step further: our spiritual life depends upon it. “Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:4-5 HCSB emphasis mine) Both Paul and Peter wrote to the churches so that they would recognize their need for one another and understand they were each equipped specifically to meet the needs of the others in His Church.

 

While I understand that ones individual walk is a sacred relationship between only him/her and God, we must not let our American bent toward rugged individualism let us think we must make it on our own. We NEED each other. If we are His body, we cannot stay close to Him unless we are also staying close to one another.

 

Andy Jentes