Individually Together

Romans 12:3-8

³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

⁴For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,

⁵so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

⁶Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;

⁷if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;

⁸the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

One of the results of Adam’s fall into sin is that humans tend to spend a great deal of time looking at one another and making comparisons. How do we stack up to others? This tendency has probably only increased in recent past as our ability to observe one another has grown exponentially through the media. Now we are exhorted by Paul to do the opposite. Instead of looking at others and judging ourselves, we are to be content with the person that God made us to be. Even as I write those words I know that this is far easier said than done. This morning on the news there was a story about a woman who is clearly obsessed with her physical fitness and appearance. Her stance is that anyone who does not look like her is lazy and undisciplined. She may be right – she’s probably wrong. And if you like that buff, thin, muscular, beautiful look, well . . . But the point is that she is holding herself up as the model which we should all seek to attain. What I saw was a good set of genes and some serious pride. Since I am the polar opposite of her, I guess I should feel badly about myself. At least that is what the world would say.

Paul says differently. He holds up another standard. In this passage (and in several others through his Epistles) Paul explains that the Holy Spirit gives out numerous gifts to His people. We don’t all receive the same gifts. Instead we look at our own gifts and use them to the greatest advantage for the Kingdom. At the same time we celebrate the gifts He has given to others and reject the notion of wanting those same gifts. Our attempt at comparisons and quantifying those gifts is an exercise in sinful thinking. Instead we use the gift we’ve been given liberally because then everyone benefits. It is a very simple concept – and we stumble over it every single day.