Tag: Gifts

Puzzle Pieces

Background Passage: Corinthians 12

Josiah, my youngest grandson, loves to work jigsaw puzzles. The bigger the better. His self-imposed lower limit is 300 pieces. At six-years-old, he has far more patience at the process than do I. His gift for spatial awareness eludes me. He sees a gap in the puzzle, scans the available, intricately designed pieces and almost always finds the right piece. It’s uncanny.

I kept Eli and Josiah by myself for two days this week while their parents prepared for a new school year and Grandma was out of town. Josiah asked me to work a couple of jigsaw puzzles with him. Though not a big fan of puzzles, I joined him. He put in five pieces for each one I found.

At one point, he held a piece between two fingers, remarking about the “uniqueness of its shape.” He handed it to me and said, “It’s easier to find where they go if they’re unique.” Then, he laughed. What I heard was, “Here, Grandpa, even you should be able to find the place for this one.”

But, he’s right. The most difficult puzzles are those where the shape of every piece is exactly the same. Without realizing it, Josiah reminded me of a beautiful biblical truth. We are each uniquely made by a loving Creator who has a place and a purpose for us all.

The Corinthian church struggled with that concept. Paul found a way to address the issue to prevent the first-century church from tearing itself apart.

Step back into the first century.

Corinth sat on a major trade route. People from all over the world entered its gates. Walked its streets. Engaged in commerce. Bringing with them their cultural, social and religious mores. An ethnically and socially diverse community, the blend of culture created an atmosphere of intense immorality and idolatry.

Corinth’s depraved reputation unnerved Paul prior to his first visit there. In I Corinthians 2:3 he admits, “I came to you (that first time) in weakness, with much fear and trembling.”

Though he had been successful in establishing new churches in other Greek communities, he also faced brutal opposition. It is hard to image any situation causing the faithful and powerful disciple to tremble. Along his way to Corinth, the images of Daniel in a lion’s den surely crept to mind.

Though anxious about the reception his message would receive, Paul preached “not with wise and persuasive words (of man), but with the power of the Holy Spirit,” a God-inspired message that fell on receptive ears and believing hearts.

Just a few years later, word came from Corinth about the struggles of the church. It didn’t take long for some in the church to believe their work, their God-given gifts, were of greater worth and value than others. You see, they began to believe that the shape of their jigsaw puzzle piece made them more important than other more ordinary pieces. With each declaration of supremacy, the wedge of bitterness split them apart.

Paul dispelled that notion.

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of workings, but in all of them and in everyone the same God at work.”

Paul goes on to list a series of unique spiritual gifts of great benefit to the church, but he adds at the end…

“All of these are the work of one Spirit, and he distributes them to each one just as he determines.”

In other words, God gives to you those gifts he needs you to have at a time in your life when you need to have them. It is for you to use to do the work he needs you to do.

Every gift we’ve been given, Paul writes, has been given to us for “the common good,” as a means of building up the church, its members and reaching out to a lost and misguided world. If God grants that gift for a purpose, no gift is more important than the other. No one role more critical than another.

Jigsaw puzzles didn’t hit the market until 18 centuries after Paul’s letter to the Corinthians so he used a different illustration to make his point.

“Just as the body, though one, has many parts…so it is with Christ…If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed the parts, all of them, in the body just as he wanted them to be.”

The eye needs the hand and the head needs the feet, Paul said. Every part of the body has a role to play in God’s purpose and plan. If one part feels superior or one part feels it doesn’t belong, if we push aside a part because we don’t care for its looks, or, if every part of the body is exactly the same, the body loses its God-created uniqueness.

Josiah will tell you the unique pieces of a jigsaw puzzle allow us to pull the puzzle together. Each piece connects with those around it. We build around those easily identifiable pieces, making new connections as we go until the puzzle is a completed picture.

In the same way, our individual strengths allow us to find our place in God’s picture. When we are in the right place, properly using the gifts we’ve been given, it allows others to more easily connect to the body of Christ…to find their place in his picture.

The work of the church ought to be about helping others find their place in God’s picture. Celebrating the God-designed differences. Making those critical connections with one another that draw us together in one body, one spirit, rather than ripping us apart. When we find that unique piece, we ought to be able to fit it into the mission and ministry of the church. As Josiah said, “Even you can do it, Grandpa.”

The challenge before the 21st century church is to make new connections in a Corinthian world. Connecting each other into kingdom work and extending beyond the walls of the church to reach those who do not hear God calling them to be a part of his bigger picture.

The diversity of the church is its strength. Your uniqueness and mine play important and distinctive roles in the kingdom of God. When we don’t play our part, or minimize the part of others, or fail to pull all the pieces together, we create a hole in God’s plan…his work remains unfinished.

We find ourselves in a time when the people of God are being pushed into the corner by the world around us. It’s easy to isolate ourselves from those indifferent or intolerant to our faith. Now is not the time to huddle. Now is the time to reach out and find those unique pieces; to begin putting the puzzle together once more.

Every time he works a jigsaw puzzle, I play a game with Josiah. Somewhere in the process, when he’s not looking, I’ll hide a piece. When the work is done, he discovers a hole in the puzzle. The picture is incomplete. I attempt to save the day by “finding” what I’ve hidden and putting in the last piece. We wrestle and laugh as he takes the piece away from me. Finally, he plugs the final piece into its spot and beams.

The angels in heaven beam every time we connect a new piece to the puzzle that is God’s kingdom. Image the celebration that will occur when the heavenly puzzle is complete.

Fearless Love

Background Passages: Romans 12:13; I Peter 4:8-10; I John 4:18-20 and III John

“What should we do if we see one of you doing something wrong?” The question from my oldest son came out of the blue at the dinner table when he was about eight years old. My wife and I looked at each other in stunned silence as my mind raced through all the things I might have said or done since I got home that night.

My wife, unfazed by the question and probably with a cleaner conscious than mine, responded first. “You should tell us.” My son turned to me with a stern look on his face, “She talks to strangers all the time.” It seems our talks about “stranger danger” took hold. All I could do was shake my head and say, “I know. I know.”

What Adam observed is true. Robin will strike up a conversation with the woman she’s never met in the grocery line or the man at the doctor’s office…any time, any place, any one. She is outgoing and friendly to all she encounters. My son was right about her actions, but wrong in his interpretation. To my wife, no one is a stranger and all a potential friend.

I believe her ability to notice people, to make them feel special, is a God-given gift. In biblical terms, she has the gift of hospitality. Christian hospitality isn’t about fancy table settings or sumptuous banquets, it’s about servanthood. It conveys the idea of loving others in the name of Christ. While the Bible teaches all of us to love one another and to practice hospitality (Rom. 12:13), there are those whose spirit captures it in abundance.

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” I Peter 4:8-10

At its core, hospitality frames the loving outreach of the Christian faith…with hands, hearts and doors open to the world. It’s more than just unlocking your home to those in need of a place to stay. It speaks more to making connections with those we encounter…even if the connection is brief.

You’ll find the gift present in the families that welcomed into their homes victims of flood, fire and storm. You’ll find it in the woman who gave up a successful career to open a shelter for abused women and children. You’ll find the gift in the foster parent who loves so unconditionally for an uncertain time.

You’ll find the gift among those men and women who meet the needs of the hurting. End the isolation of the lonely, Embrace the rejected. The gift flows naturally because they love…and they love fearlessly.

John reminds us in his first letter, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” I John 4:18-19

That leads me back to the first century to a man referenced just once in the Bible. A minor player with a major role to play. John wrote his third letter not to a church nor to a pastor. Rather, III John is the ancient equivalent to a quick text or email from the apostle to a dear friend named Gaius whose fearless love served as evidence of his gift of hospitality.

Let me give you the setting. During the first century the apostles journeyed through the biblical world planting new churches. As they moved on under the leadership of the spirit, they left those fledgling congregations in the hands of local pastoral leaders. To ensure these new believers stayed true to the teachings of Christ, the apostles would periodically send their personal assistants, itinerant pastors, to continue teaching the deeper truths of the gospel, helping them grow toward a more mature faith.

Inevitably, some of these local leaders felt they no longer needed the help of “outsiders.” John tells us of one such man. Diotrephes, a strong-willed man who enjoyed at little too much his prominent position in the church, constantly belittled the apostles and sent away unceremoniously the itinerant preachers sent by John to minster to the people. Diotrephes so loved “being first” he abused his authority, convincing the congregation to kick out of the church any who opposed him in this matter.

Gaius stood in the gap on behalf of these visiting pastors, defying Diotrephes and undoubtedly incurring his wrath. Yet, John encouraged Gaius to continue “walking in truth” (vs. 3) and praised him for his “faithfulness” (vs. 5).

You see, Gaius had the gift. He could make anyone feel welcomed. With Gaius, conversation flowed easily. There was something in his demeanor that instantly turned the stranger he met in the grocery store, the doctor’s office or the steps of his church into a friend. He was the kind of person who drew the lonely from their solitude.

Gaius saw the good in others and cast aside the arrogance of Diotrephes to embrace the teaching of those visiting preachers. To welcome them into his home. To share his food and provision. To invite others to hear their words of encouragement and hope. If that meant loving those he barely knew when other friends and neighbors called him a fool, that’s what he would do.

You see, like my wife, Gaius never met a stranger. He met everyone he encountered with fearless love and the open arms of Christ. Gaius had the gift of hospitality and he used it to God’s glory.

In the words of Jesus, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

Most of us love fearfully, afraid to welcome the strangers we encounter. Always careful to approach only those who look and act like us. Afraid that opening our lives to others make us vulnerable to heartbreak and hurt.

We need to see that John commends Gaius for using his gift of hospitality. Gaius’ heart and home extended comfort and provision to the traveling ministers sent by John to preach and teach in his absence, despite the fact that they were strangers to Gaius. Despite the fact that others turned them away. By opening his home to these brothers, John’s beloved friend became a partner with them for the sake of “the Name” and for “the truth.” Gaius made a difference in sharing the name of Christ and his gospel of truth.

Gaius’ actions thrilled John. He wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

We’ve each been called to love because God first loved us. Those he gifted with the spirit of hospitality take love to a new level and it is fearless. What a changed world it would be if we all put it into practice.

*****

Author’s Note: This devotional thought is the second in a series of posts about some of the unsung heroes of the New Testament. These men and women, in many ways, carried the responsibility of the spread of the gospel in first 50 years after the ministry of Christ. By putting together the limited biblical references to their work and filling in the gaps with a little imagination, we find ways in which we, as ordinary Christians, can a heart for ministry in the examples they set.