The Big Picture

My family comes home for the Fourth of July. This year I put out a jigsaw puzzle of Lady Liberty. We love jigsaw puzzles. It is a great non-competitive, non-threatening place around which to congregate. No ones knows how long it has been since you found a piece to fit (except for the sudden exclamations of "I finally found one!") and conversation is easy. They helped me with Lady Liberty while they were here, but I was left to finish all the blue sky alone. 

There are two issues here that you may notice, both of which slowed down the progress of finishing the puzzle. My sister gave me the puzzle and she has a dog who might very well have enjoyed the puzzle before me. There is a piece completely missing just under her arm and there is a  "chewed up" piece in the top right corner. Here's the problem with that. I looked everywhere for the missing piece and tried desperately to make other pieces fit in the empty place. Worse than that, I completely ignored the chewed piece thinking I would just stick it in whatever place was left at the end.

That is so much like the body of Christ. When someone is missing, no one else can fill their place. It was custom made just for them. The others have their own place and will not fit there. There is a gaping hole when one of the body is missing. 

Likewise, there are members of the body that have been "chewed up" in life. They have been hurt and need to be patched up but they still have value to the body. There is a spot that only they can fill and there will be a hole without them. 

How about you? Are you missing the place God has for you in ministry? Have you been beat up by the world or even the church? Jesus wants to heal you and use that hurt! The picture is incomplete without you!

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 

1 Corinthians 12:27