During this season of blooming flowers, sunflowers are blooming in our garden right now and I love the word picture message God laid on my heart! As a part of the body of Christ, there is one body with many parts. The same is true in this picture of a bouquet of flowers; there are many flowers created by one Gardener, the Lord!
As you look at a bouquet of flowers do you see yourself? Do you see your giftedness? Do you see your unique personality? Do you see purpose? You are in there! You may be the beautiful background flower, the tender accent flower, the colorful complimentary flower, or the sunflower that leads them all (someone has to be the sunflower and God never intended the other flowers to be jealous or envious of anyone). Every flower is necessary for the common good and purpose of the bouquet. Every flower is meant to bloom the unique ways that God planted them and created them to bloom.
As the body of Christ, each member needs to be included, needs a place to belong, needs to be accepted for the unique ways that God has gifted and created them. When everyone is embraced for different service but with the same Lord, you will have a beautiful bouquet of ministry taking place for the common good of people knowing Jesus, sharing Jesus, and leading others to do the same! I have seen this kind of ministry in action. I have experienced God take a group of people that are embraced for their uniqueness and watch Him mobilize them for God's Glory and the saving of many lives. This is a beautiful work of the Lord.
I have also seen the downside of ministry when the enemy tries to get members in the body of Christ to favor one over the other, leaving out members that have gifts to give, turning ministry into a competition or popularity of one over another, and abandoning members that may not in their in crowd....the results of the enemies tactics is not pretty...it may look something like this
I love the differences in the body of Christ, I love to surround myself with others that have gifts that I do not have so that they build strenght and beauty into the beautiful bouquet of ministry that God has called us to! I love how God says it best in 1 Corinthians 12:15-26 "Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 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 in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSMfL5LuSo ("You Are For Me" by Kari Jobe)
