Always be humble, gentle, and patient accepting one another in love!
above my stove. It's has been a good reminder to me and I've spent many time sin prayer before that verse for those "few times" when I didn't want to apply this verse in my home.
Ephesians 4:7-16
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men."
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men."
(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower,
earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher
than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ
may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the
knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining
to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and
by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him
who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
If there was one thing I would hope you would take from this section of verses it is that:
You are important and you have a role in the body of Christ.
Christ is the HEAD of the body of Christ, I think it is extremely important to notice is the head, not the whole body. As I have emphasized before is that God has invited us into relationship with Him and with others. He is the head, the one we all should be looking at to receive our directions from, but we the church make up the body. A head does not exist without a body. The body does not function without listening to the head and cooperating with all the other parts of the body. What is the connecting power between us all is: LOVE.
One of the weakness of many women is the fault of comparing ourselves to others. We often find ourselves comparing our looks, our hair, our weight, our gifts and talents. We just need to plain old stop it. Our gifts have been apportioned to us by His grace and we each have different gifts and functions. If we spend all of our time looking at how we don't measure up (because we never measure up, do we) we will miss out on two things:
- Being blessed by the gifts that others are offering to us. For some reason we feel insecure in receiving and we think that if we accept gifts we will be showing our weaknesses to others. If you understand that others have gifts from Christ to offer to you, it might make it easier for you to receive from them.
- Blessing others with your gifts. Since you "never measure up" you don't think you have anything to offer to others. That again is a lie that you need to combat. You do have things to offer to others and we need you to offer your gifts and talents to us.
By working together in love we are strengthening the body of Christ. It says we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by every whim. Know who you are in Christ and be who you are in Christ. It benefits the whole body!
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Thanks Jaime, very encouraging.
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