“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NLT)
Unique
A lot of my beach time used to be spent wandering up and down the shoreline seeking that perfect, flawless, fancy shell, a treasure to take home. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that finding one is rare. What is in abundance though, are the chipped and battered, flawed shells I used to leave behind. For a long time I missed the beauty in their collective imperfections. Until that is, I saw them in a new way, through the lens of my camera.
We can see ourselves a little like my sea shell search, walking around trying to appear perfect but instead finding that we are flawed with sin, battered by disappointment, our confidence chipped away. It’s easy to feel overlooked, left behind, that we have nothing to offer compared to others, and believe that the chance we could be used by God is rare.
“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, ‘I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,’ that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, ‘ I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,’ would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.”
1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-17, 22 (NLT)
God doesn’t see us the way we see ourselves. He’s given each of us unique qualities, talents, quirks, and gifts to be used to help each other and show Christ to the world. There are always things that we don’t like about ourselves, but what we perceive as weak and useless, God recognizes as “the most necessary.”
Looking at others and ourselves in a new way, through the lens of God, helps us recognize what we may have missed. We need each other. Where you are strong I may be weak. My gift could compliment your idea. Each of us has something different to offer. Are we perfect? No, but we don’t need to be. When we come together as the body of Christ our collective imperfections are made beautiful by reflecting the love of the One who is perfect. Each of us has an important part to play in helping those who wander find not what they’re seeking, but what they’ve missed. Now that my friends, is the true treasure that leads us Home!
“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of the body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Ephesians 4:16 (NLT)