I believe everyone has a specific and personal ‘my‘ part – opportunities and responsibilities in two specific contexts. One – in our partnership with the Lord, and two – in terms of our specific role and gifting in the body. Our first ‘assignment’ is to discover our specific part so that we can be fruitful and operate in all that’s necessary to accomplish our role. This brings up, in terms of the latter point, one sometimes huge problem. The problem can be summed up in one phrase – being who we have been designed to be not who we think we should be.
This first context is real – Partnership? Absolutely. God has chosen to work through us in our world. He could have chosen to act by fiat, but He gave us the authority (which we all too quickly gave to the devil) and responsibility for the world (Genesis 1:26). Can you get your head around the fact that the Creator gave us the authority to care for the world? That’s why I believe we are in partnership. We messed up this relationship because of our sin, but the Father always had a plan to redeem us and bring us back into relationship – through His Son, Jesus. If God loves us this much to bring us back into relationship with Him, then why won’t we believe and act on this?
Reality says that there is no possibility for us to resolve some of the problems and issues we face in this world by ourselves. God has given us access to Him to help. I would contend that God never intended for His creation to ‘go it alone’. When Genesis talks about God and Adam walking together in the cool of the morning, that imagery is awesome! And it is God who brought the animals to Adam to give them names (Genesis 2:19) – goodness! But even greater is His plan for our redemption and restoration. 2Corinthians 5:17-21 provides us with understanding that we are now, have been made righteous (in right standing with God, a gift that is ours when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord). We are called His workmanship in Ephesians (2:4-10) – another statement on partnership.
In terms of point two – our specific role: I sometimes think we need to have this scripture, 1Corinthians 12, etched in our minds and continually before our eyes so we cease our erroneous thinking and acting. Paul starts out chapter 12 by saying, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” And proceeds to tells in verses 4, 5, and 6 WHO is our source – … the same Spirit… the same Lord… the same God. There is no issue of what is the most important understanding, who is the source, the relationship among the ‘who’, etc. He says in verse 7, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” So why is it that certain gifts are coveted more than others? Or why do we try and function with a gift that isn’t part of our gifting? Paul furthers this argument in verse 13:
“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members
of that one body, being many, are one body…”
Verse 14 reiterates this teaching and summarizes this by indicating Who it is that makes the decisions in 18 – “God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleases.” Verse 25:
“…that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members
should have the same care for one another.”
Bottom line: “Now you are the body of Christ and members individually.” (v 27) Paul ends this discourse by saying (v 31) “But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.” This leads to one of the most quoted books in the Bible, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 – the ‘Love’ chapter. This chapter defines and describes what love looks like and does. This should be our goal, our mindset in all our thinking and action. This is the pinnacle of Be-ing and Do-ing.
