Month: August 2023

Categories
Uncategorized

Out of Many, One

Tomorrow night, forty-five men will begin to prepare for a Kairos Prison Ministry Weekend at Marion Correctional Institution (MCI). We will meet for several hours on eight consecutive Thursday nights to learn from each other, understand our individually assigned roles, tend to logistics, pray and worship together, and to draw near to each other in the Spirit. Along the way, there will grow a shared singularity of purpose among us and a mutual trust, and on the last weekend of October, we will enter the prison—forty-five individuals, united. It is but one manifestation of God’s grace in Christ Jesus, and a microcosm of His church on Earth: “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people . . .”1 In Christ, believers are the “E Pluribus Unum” of His Kingdom—out of many, we are one.

To the church in Rome, Paul taught, “As in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”2 So it is that, on the Kairos Weekend, table servants will minister attentively, filling empty coffee cups and replenishing cookie trays, while others toil in the kitchen unnoticed. Some will give talks and share relatable testimonies, after which others will engage in participant discussions. Our timekeeper will quietly keep things moving as close to schedule as the environment allows, while our coordinator liaises with the administration as needed. And the musicians will lead us to the throne of God in worship and praise.

Over the years, I have intently listened to many MCI residents as they witnessed to the personal impact of their Kairos Weekend. Conspicuously absent from their individual testimonies is this: the tendency to credit any single Kairos volunteer for their powerful weekend experience. A given speaker may have said something especially resonating, perhaps, and maybe a one-on-one conversation was particularly helpful. But what the participants see is the body of Christ, led by Christ, deeply bonded and acting as one—grown up “to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”3 Out of many, we are one. So prayerfully seek to unite with others in ministry, for together in Christ we will do and see great things. It’s awesome!

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”—1 Corinthians 12:27

Father, You do wonderous things through us, Your people, the body of Christ. Inspire us to live and serve as one, each of us doing as we are called and gifted to do. The glory will be Yours. In Christ, we pray. Amen.

1 Peter 2:10
2 Romans 12:4-5
3 Ephesians 4:15-16 NIV

Categories
Uncategorized

We Would Do Greater Things

A few times when our son Matthew was a boy, I made it a point to teach him the wonder of others-mindedness. I would draw 10 stick figures (the extent of my artistic skill) and then ask him, “If each one of these people thinks only of himself or herself, how many are thinking of each person?” Pausing briefly to understand the question, he would respond, “One.” Correct! Then I’d change the question: “If each one thinks only of the others, then how many are thinking about each one?” “Ten,” he’d reply. Well, nine actually, but you get the point. “Which is better?” I’d ask. The answer was obvious.

There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. In Kingdom math, one is none. “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.”1 But in Christ, God has built us into something much greater than alone: “Now you [plural] are the body of Christ,” wrote Paul to the Corinthians, “and each one [singular] of you is a part of it.”2 To believers in Rome, he repeated, “we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”3 The apostle yearned that believers’ “hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love.”4 In Kingdom math, many equals one.

We do greater things as a body united. We stand not apart from each other in individual weakness, but shoulder to shoulder with each other, united in Christ for the glory of His Kingdom and against our common enemy, “the cosmic powers [of] darkness . . . the spiritual forces of evil.”5 As we assume our individual Kingdom roles—our respective functions, gifts, and callings—under the lordship of Christ, His will is done and His church advances. People are saved and helped; moreover, His entire body is strengthened and encouraged, for it is awesome to see how God works through our brothers, our sisters, and, yes, even ourselves.

Solomon once observed: “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.”6 So let us live greater—united as one with each other and looking out for the needs of all. If stick figures can do it, we can too.

Father, Your ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours. Open us to Your Spirit, that He would do greater things in and through us, the living, breathing, united body of Christ, in Whose name we pray. Amen.

1 Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT
2 1 Corinthians 12:27
3 Romans 12:5
4 Colossians 2:2
5 Ephesians 6:12
6 Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT

Categories
Uncategorized

Other People’s Priorities

“I didn’t accomplish a single thing I set out to do today.” How many times have we bemoaned it? We start the day energized at the thought of conquering our to-do lists, and then like wrong-way traffic careening toward us in our lane, here they come—other people’s priorities. Though we swerve and dodge and start and stop as best we can, inconvenience flares into frustration and irritation simmers in resentment. Sound familiar? This is why some organizational wonks recommend we build a certain number hours into our daily schedule for the unforeseen needs of others. In my career, I found this to be good, practical advice.

Yet God leads us to serve others from a perspective far higher than mere acquiescence—namely, their value to their Creator and as objects of His love. We are equal in this respect, each one as important as the others. Time and again, Paul exhorted early believers to love others as themselves—not in just a “warm, fuzzy feelings” sense, but the proactive kind of love that embraces the good of others as being as important as one’s own. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,”1 he penned to the Galatians. To the believers in Corinth, he wrote, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”2 And lest any misunderstanding linger, the apostle doubled down in his letter to the Philippian church, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”3

Our individual responsibilities remain, of course, and we only have finite time in which to execute them. This does not change. What can change, though, is our perspective—our understanding that other people are as precious to God as we are, and that their needs are as important as ours. When we serve them, we serve Him. When we proactively love them, we proactively love Him who calls them His own. So much so that Jesus will say to us on a day that draws ever nearer, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”4 This is community, this is oneness; this is God’s best for us, and He calls us to it. Then when the needs of others compound our own, may we stop long enough to remember how God loves them, and how He calls us to love them, too. Try it today and see the difference.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”5 —Jesus

Father, our self-centeredness hardens us to the needs of others, yet they are Yours. Lead us by Your Spirit, that we would love them as generously and as You love us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Galatians 6:2
2 1 Corinthians 10:24
3 Philippians 2:2-4
4 Matthew 25:40 NIV
5 Acts 20:35