Over the years I've had a few favorite TV programs. I used to love Thursday night Must See TV on NBC! At various times the lineup included programs such as Cheers, Night Court, The Cosby Show, Wings, Family Ties, Frasier, Seinfeld, Friends, etc. Ah... the good old days!
But in the late 90's one NBC program in particular really captured me, and it aired on Saturday nights. The Pretender. Oh man, I loved that show! In our married life, it became the first program my wife and I watched together religiously. A few years after the show was canceled, I would watch reruns in syndication on another channel at 6am as I got up to do some at-home work for the radio station I worked at. And now... I have 3 of the 4 seasons on DVD!
The Pretender was a program in which a grown man, Jarod, had escaped from The Centre... a secret organization that had kidnapped him as a child and exploited his genius, using him in running simulations for their not-so-good purposes. But after escaping, Jarod began using what he had learned over the years as a means to help people. He would "pretend" to be a police officer, a pilot, a race car driver, an FBI agent... or whatever it took to bring justice to someone who had done wrong to someone else.
There are plenty of applications I could make about Jarod's life. He was a man who could be whoever he wanted to be - but yet he didn't know who he was. Maybe I'll get into that sometime. However, this post isn't about that, but rather about a particular episode that I watched the other day on DVD. As a side-plot in this episode, Jarod had moved into a roach-infested apartment building in which one of his neighbors was always playing musical instruments - very badly! The man had been 'practicing' for years but it hadn't helped at all. The other neighbors were always pounding on the walls and shouting for the man to stop playing and making those terrible noises. The man was basically a grump, and he simply shouted back and kept on playing.
But Jarod, instead of complaining to the man, befriended him - to the man's surprise - and won him over, and had some great conversations with him. Near the end of the program Jarod noticed some small decorative instruments in the man's apartment, that were made out of glass. Jarod asked the man if he had made them, and he said he had. With great wisdom and gentleness, Jarod pointed out to the man that perhaps his "art" was not in playing musical intruments, but rather was in creating these beautiful glass decorations. It had never dawned on the man that perhaps music wasn't his thing...
It's probably not too hard to see where I'm going with all this. :)
Grace Roots Blog
Showing posts with label unique. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unique. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Individually members of one another
The worldwide body of Christ is a body that is made up of many very diverse and unique individuals. Each member of the body is set apart for specific functions within the body. We're not all the same, and we don't all do the same things within the body. This is such a wonderful, beautiful thing to me! No part of Christ's body is unimportant; in fact each part is equally important, even if some parts have higher or lower visibility than others. Each part is gifted in its own way - in exactly the way that God wants it to be gifted. He has set you apart as a very special and important part of His body.
The practical applications that I want to make with all of this are very general. Depending upon who you are, the following will play out in your life in its own unique ways. First off, I think it's very important that you be who you are and that you don't try to be who anyone else is! In my earlier days in the church, I would see various people operating in various spiritual gifts and I so much wanted to be able to do the things I saw them doing. But it wasn't until later on, after I had discovered some of the unique things that God has set me apart to do within His body that I finally began to understand that it's quite all right that I can't and don't do what certain other people are doing. God has given me plenty to do within His body! I finally began enjoying the ways in which He had gifted me and I quit trying to be what I wasn't.
This lesson also taught me to stop trying to get others to be who they're not, but instead to help them find out who they are and to encourage them in who they are. I think there is a lot of manipulative "ministry" going on in the church because people simply aren't content to do what they're called to do and they're also not content when other people aren't doing what they think they should be doing!
Knowing who you are and being who you are is very freeing. When I used to wish I could do what others were doing, I really felt as if I was missing out. But I came to find out that what I was really missing out on was being who I was! Knowing and being who you are is also very beneficial to the body as a whole. God Himself has made you who you are and He has not made you to be someone else. When you are who you are, and everyone else is who they are, then Christ's body works exactly as it's intended to work! "The body is a unit," says the Apostle Paul (or "the body is one"). It's One Body that is made up of countless parts that God has strategically placed throughout the Body. The placement of the parts is God's doing! The functions that you walk in all come from God! He has done well placing you exactly where you are.
You are free to be who you are and not who anyone else thinks you should be. You are free to celebrate what God is doing in your life and in the lives of others, and to not be envious of others or fearful that God has left you out in the cold, even if He's not doing the same thing(s) in your life as He's doing in theirs. You might not be called to have the same type of unique, massive evangelistic call on your life that Billy Graham has had... but Billy Graham also hasn't had the same unique call on his life that you have on your life! You may say, "I'm no Billy Graham..." but on the same token, Billy Graham is no YOU! Whatever God does through individuals is good for the Body as a whole.
I know some people who are very grace-based that don't like to hear what I'm about to say, but I think it's simply the truth. All the members of the Body of Christ, while having a super abundance of grace in regards to all that God has called them to do individually, are also limited in the respect that God hasn't enabled them to do what He hasn't called them to do! In a certain context, Paul put it this way: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?" (1 Cor 12:29-30). Of course not! This goes along with what Paul had just finished saying: "God has arranged 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" (1 Cor 12:18-20).
So don't be down on yourself, and don't feel like God has jilted you when you find you're not operating in the same gifts that others are operating in! And don't look down on others when they're not operating in the same gifts as you! "We being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another" (Rom 12:5). I love that phrase! Individually members of one another. The body doesn't work by having everyone doing the same things! It works when the individual members each do their individual things as part of the whole body.
And please don't think that the ways in which individuals are gifted and used by God within the Body are solely found listed in the Bible. Yes, Paul presents us with many of the diverse ways in which God gifts His body, but just think of all the ways in which God has made you a beneficial part of His body that aren't even listed in the scriptures! Your hobbies, your talents, your abilities, your desires, the things you do that give you and others great joy... are all a part of how God has fitted you into His wonderful worldwide body!
Remember too, we're all in this together. It's not as if it's a competition. That would be like saying that when a man is out for a walk, his heart is in competition with his legs. No! The heart and the legs and the lungs and the blood cells and the feet and the sweat glands and... every single part of the body... all work together for the good of the body as a whole, to get it where it's going!
I think we need recognize as well that some parts of the Body never "see" each other and don't even realize what the other members of the Body are doing. But yet each part affects the other parts, even in these unseen ways. I'm pretty sure my hands and fingers don't have a clue what function my liver plays in my body, but yet if my liver wasn't functioning correctly it would seriously affect my ability to sit here and type out this blog post! Christ, the Head of the Body, knows exactly what signals He's sending to each and every part of the Body for proper functioning, and He Himself makes His body work. So just relax and be who you are, and trust that the Head of the Body knows what He's doing with the rest of the Body!
A few related posts:
Let me be
Be yourself - You can't be what you're not
Why I blog - Part 1
The practical applications that I want to make with all of this are very general. Depending upon who you are, the following will play out in your life in its own unique ways. First off, I think it's very important that you be who you are and that you don't try to be who anyone else is! In my earlier days in the church, I would see various people operating in various spiritual gifts and I so much wanted to be able to do the things I saw them doing. But it wasn't until later on, after I had discovered some of the unique things that God has set me apart to do within His body that I finally began to understand that it's quite all right that I can't and don't do what certain other people are doing. God has given me plenty to do within His body! I finally began enjoying the ways in which He had gifted me and I quit trying to be what I wasn't.
This lesson also taught me to stop trying to get others to be who they're not, but instead to help them find out who they are and to encourage them in who they are. I think there is a lot of manipulative "ministry" going on in the church because people simply aren't content to do what they're called to do and they're also not content when other people aren't doing what they think they should be doing!
Knowing who you are and being who you are is very freeing. When I used to wish I could do what others were doing, I really felt as if I was missing out. But I came to find out that what I was really missing out on was being who I was! Knowing and being who you are is also very beneficial to the body as a whole. God Himself has made you who you are and He has not made you to be someone else. When you are who you are, and everyone else is who they are, then Christ's body works exactly as it's intended to work! "The body is a unit," says the Apostle Paul (or "the body is one"). It's One Body that is made up of countless parts that God has strategically placed throughout the Body. The placement of the parts is God's doing! The functions that you walk in all come from God! He has done well placing you exactly where you are.
You are free to be who you are and not who anyone else thinks you should be. You are free to celebrate what God is doing in your life and in the lives of others, and to not be envious of others or fearful that God has left you out in the cold, even if He's not doing the same thing(s) in your life as He's doing in theirs. You might not be called to have the same type of unique, massive evangelistic call on your life that Billy Graham has had... but Billy Graham also hasn't had the same unique call on his life that you have on your life! You may say, "I'm no Billy Graham..." but on the same token, Billy Graham is no YOU! Whatever God does through individuals is good for the Body as a whole.
I know some people who are very grace-based that don't like to hear what I'm about to say, but I think it's simply the truth. All the members of the Body of Christ, while having a super abundance of grace in regards to all that God has called them to do individually, are also limited in the respect that God hasn't enabled them to do what He hasn't called them to do! In a certain context, Paul put it this way: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?" (1 Cor 12:29-30). Of course not! This goes along with what Paul had just finished saying: "God has arranged 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" (1 Cor 12:18-20).
So don't be down on yourself, and don't feel like God has jilted you when you find you're not operating in the same gifts that others are operating in! And don't look down on others when they're not operating in the same gifts as you! "We being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another" (Rom 12:5). I love that phrase! Individually members of one another. The body doesn't work by having everyone doing the same things! It works when the individual members each do their individual things as part of the whole body.
And please don't think that the ways in which individuals are gifted and used by God within the Body are solely found listed in the Bible. Yes, Paul presents us with many of the diverse ways in which God gifts His body, but just think of all the ways in which God has made you a beneficial part of His body that aren't even listed in the scriptures! Your hobbies, your talents, your abilities, your desires, the things you do that give you and others great joy... are all a part of how God has fitted you into His wonderful worldwide body!
Remember too, we're all in this together. It's not as if it's a competition. That would be like saying that when a man is out for a walk, his heart is in competition with his legs. No! The heart and the legs and the lungs and the blood cells and the feet and the sweat glands and... every single part of the body... all work together for the good of the body as a whole, to get it where it's going!
I think we need recognize as well that some parts of the Body never "see" each other and don't even realize what the other members of the Body are doing. But yet each part affects the other parts, even in these unseen ways. I'm pretty sure my hands and fingers don't have a clue what function my liver plays in my body, but yet if my liver wasn't functioning correctly it would seriously affect my ability to sit here and type out this blog post! Christ, the Head of the Body, knows exactly what signals He's sending to each and every part of the Body for proper functioning, and He Himself makes His body work. So just relax and be who you are, and trust that the Head of the Body knows what He's doing with the rest of the Body!
A few related posts:
Let me be
Be yourself - You can't be what you're not
Why I blog - Part 1
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Zerox Machine
I know something about you! I may not even know you personally but I know that I know at least one thing about you.
You are unique.
Nobody else is you and you are nobody else. And that's good.
What I have to say really isn't all that deep or complex. It's just something that I know I need a reminder of now and then, and I would think most of us do too.
I am who I am. I don't need to try to be anybody else. I can sure glean a lot from others, and I can learn a lot from others, but my personality, my character, my talents and abilities, my gifts, my looks, my thoughts, my learning curve, my experiences, my ways, my tastes, my likes and dislikes, my prayer life, my Bible reading, my way of assembling with other saints, my... whatever... is uniquely mine and I don't have to be like anyone else! Sure, I want to get along with as many people as I can and I want to work well with others, and I can most certainly be flexible. But my uniqueness doesn't have to be breakable.
--------------------
The following video may or may not be your taste of music, and the lyrics may not strike you in the way they have struck me, but it's really the main reason I started this blog entry. There's so much I could say about my thoughts of Adam Ant being a musical and lyrical genius. And while I'll use the same disclaimer as I used for the Extreme video I posted the other day (that is, I definitely wouldn't look to Adam and the Ants as a source of great spiritual enlightenment!), I can truly say that once in a while I find a "message" that I can relate to in the lyrics.
There's so much I draw out of this one song. I'll just say that there have always been "copycats" in the music industry. Artists copying other styles, etc. Just think, when you turn on your radio you instantly know the "era" of the very song you are listening to, whether or not you know that particular song. Some examples, of countless many: You know if it's a song from the 50's. You have your 80's pop music and "hair metal." You have the "boy band" era. You get the point. Each song from each era is different, but yet has many of the same elements. Adam Ant didn't seem to want to ever conform to the styles of his day and he was very vocal about all of this through the use of clever sarcasm and brilliant imagery in his art
Well, the song "Zerox" (funny how it's spelled "Xerox" in the video) is right to the point throughout the whole song. Executives in the music business - you might as well "lock up your brain" because we'll just get together and collect up the ideas and simply duplicate whatever else may be hot right now. Make sure you "keep your ears to the ground" to make sure you've got the next hit record. We'll steal the chords from another hit song and make sure this song is equally as successful.
You get the idea. And you perhaps know where I'm going with this. Many in the church today seem to be more focused on having the best programs and having the sermons and worship services that attract the most people. Let's see what's "working" in other churches and start applying it in our church. It's often about "church growth. Unfortunately, it's about how the people can make the church grow, rather than how the people can help the other people grow, if you know what I mean. It's about making sure the people's brains are locked into "our" vision. The pastor and other leaders sure do have huge smiles and they sure do give "inspiring" and "convicting" sermons. But are they being real, or are they simply putting on a show to try to attract people, or even to manipulate them into conforming to their program or into being just like them?
Which leads me to my favorite line from the song:
"I may look happy, healthy and clean
A dark brown voice and a suit pristine
But behind the smile there is a Zerox Machine..."
Can't anyone just be real anymore? Can't we just meet together with no false pretenses and with no hierarchies. Can't we just be who we are, and not try to be what that other church down the street is? Can't we simply base our identities upon who we are in Christ rather than being concerned about how we appear to each other and to the community? Can't we stop trying to reproduce people to be just like us, conforming into our image, and instead work to help them walk in their own uniqueness and for the purposes for which they were created?
adam and the ants :zerox machine
Add to My Profile | More Videos
A different version of the video with better audio quality is here. (It wouldn't allow embedding).
Lock up your brain
'Cause I'm here again
I'm never bored, I steal your chords
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
Give me a line
Or a middle eight
I've got the best so I want the rest
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
Let's get together before its too late
Collect up the ideas, and duplicate
Filling out the forms, send them off tonight
And you'll be the owner of the copyright
Of the copyright, of the copyright
Time's of the essence get your ears to the ground
However else can the hits be found?
I may look happy, healthy and clean
A dark brown voice and suit pristine
But behind the smile there is a Zerox Machine
I'm a Zerox Machine...
You are unique.
Nobody else is you and you are nobody else. And that's good.
What I have to say really isn't all that deep or complex. It's just something that I know I need a reminder of now and then, and I would think most of us do too.
I am who I am. I don't need to try to be anybody else. I can sure glean a lot from others, and I can learn a lot from others, but my personality, my character, my talents and abilities, my gifts, my looks, my thoughts, my learning curve, my experiences, my ways, my tastes, my likes and dislikes, my prayer life, my Bible reading, my way of assembling with other saints, my... whatever... is uniquely mine and I don't have to be like anyone else! Sure, I want to get along with as many people as I can and I want to work well with others, and I can most certainly be flexible. But my uniqueness doesn't have to be breakable.
--------------------
The following video may or may not be your taste of music, and the lyrics may not strike you in the way they have struck me, but it's really the main reason I started this blog entry. There's so much I could say about my thoughts of Adam Ant being a musical and lyrical genius. And while I'll use the same disclaimer as I used for the Extreme video I posted the other day (that is, I definitely wouldn't look to Adam and the Ants as a source of great spiritual enlightenment!), I can truly say that once in a while I find a "message" that I can relate to in the lyrics.
There's so much I draw out of this one song. I'll just say that there have always been "copycats" in the music industry. Artists copying other styles, etc. Just think, when you turn on your radio you instantly know the "era" of the very song you are listening to, whether or not you know that particular song. Some examples, of countless many: You know if it's a song from the 50's. You have your 80's pop music and "hair metal." You have the "boy band" era. You get the point. Each song from each era is different, but yet has many of the same elements. Adam Ant didn't seem to want to ever conform to the styles of his day and he was very vocal about all of this through the use of clever sarcasm and brilliant imagery in his art
Well, the song "Zerox" (funny how it's spelled "Xerox" in the video) is right to the point throughout the whole song. Executives in the music business - you might as well "lock up your brain" because we'll just get together and collect up the ideas and simply duplicate whatever else may be hot right now. Make sure you "keep your ears to the ground" to make sure you've got the next hit record. We'll steal the chords from another hit song and make sure this song is equally as successful.
You get the idea. And you perhaps know where I'm going with this. Many in the church today seem to be more focused on having the best programs and having the sermons and worship services that attract the most people. Let's see what's "working" in other churches and start applying it in our church. It's often about "church growth. Unfortunately, it's about how the people can make the church grow, rather than how the people can help the other people grow, if you know what I mean. It's about making sure the people's brains are locked into "our" vision. The pastor and other leaders sure do have huge smiles and they sure do give "inspiring" and "convicting" sermons. But are they being real, or are they simply putting on a show to try to attract people, or even to manipulate them into conforming to their program or into being just like them?
Which leads me to my favorite line from the song:
"I may look happy, healthy and clean
A dark brown voice and a suit pristine
But behind the smile there is a Zerox Machine..."
Can't anyone just be real anymore? Can't we just meet together with no false pretenses and with no hierarchies. Can't we just be who we are, and not try to be what that other church down the street is? Can't we simply base our identities upon who we are in Christ rather than being concerned about how we appear to each other and to the community? Can't we stop trying to reproduce people to be just like us, conforming into our image, and instead work to help them walk in their own uniqueness and for the purposes for which they were created?
adam and the ants :zerox machine
Add to My Profile | More Videos
A different version of the video with better audio quality is here. (It wouldn't allow embedding).
Lock up your brain
'Cause I'm here again
I'm never bored, I steal your chords
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
Give me a line
Or a middle eight
I've got the best so I want the rest
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
ooh-ooh Zerox Machine
Let's get together before its too late
Collect up the ideas, and duplicate
Filling out the forms, send them off tonight
And you'll be the owner of the copyright
Of the copyright, of the copyright
Time's of the essence get your ears to the ground
However else can the hits be found?
I may look happy, healthy and clean
A dark brown voice and suit pristine
But behind the smile there is a Zerox Machine
I'm a Zerox Machine...
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