In God’s Kingdom, parts are not just parts … they’re essential to his whole plan!

The average church congregation is multi-faceted! There are young, old, men, women, children, teens and in-betweens. Some are of means, others would be of means if they only had the means!

There are Democrats and Republicans, Independents and non-political. (And we don’t make one group sit by itself.) There are high tech people, low or no-tech people. Some wear fine clothes to work, others get dirt under their fingernails when they work.

We have people who are ill, others have never felt better … the world is theirs! Some are married, others single, divorced or anxiously wishing to be married. If we were to check IQs, they would run the gamut from near genius to barely able to make it through life.

What a divergent group!

But none of it really matters, because there is one powerful denominator that runs through our midst and captures every person. “… in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5 NIV

 Is it important to know what ‘part’ you are? Does it make any difference? Aren’t all parts just ‘parts?’  Psalm 139 informs us that God ‘hand made’ each of us in our mother’s womb. He created a masterpiece. We were made for his eternal purposes and to interact with each other.

So what you add to the mix is critical. Your gifts and how they’re played out is unique … just as you are. You wear special glasses that cause you to view life from a particular perspective and the people of your family and church family need that perspective.

There are seven gifts talked about in Romans 12 and your possession of one of these in particular and possibly a ‘gift-mix’ of several, determine how and where you are to complete God’s order and plan.

Some are the arms of the body to lift and help, while others are the heart, with a bent toward compassion. Some are shoulders and carry the administrative weight. And some are the ‘mouths’ who offer encouragement and direction.

For the next few weeks, we will be looking at these seven gifts and asking God to show us what it is we’ve been created for. Between now and next week, read Romans 12:1-10 with an eye to finding God’s gift to you that is for the benefit of the Body!

See you next week!

P.S. Just wanted you to know … Fresh Heart For A New Week Volume 2 (365 devotionals for every day of the year) has just gone to the publisher and should be ready to order by this Fall.