body aches

Romans 12:3-5, "Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other."

I was thinking about how often we don't commend/praise each other. As Christians, a characteristic that identifies our nature should be an uplifting spirit. We should speak kind words that restore and encourage the body. It's funny... we seem to beat up the body more than we build it up.

Oftentimes, I've found that our jealousy gets the best of us, and causes us to criticize others. Somehow, we justify our actions by calling it constructive or because we are so arrogant to think that we have a right to judge based on our qualifications and abilities.

How can we look at our body and say "Yo leg, you're so ugly. you have scars. you're bruised. you're useless.Yo momma's so fat...." But if our leg was completely severed from the rest of our body, we'd realize just how much we needed it to function to our fullest. It enhances our mobility, our strength, our speed, our balance, and our confidence.

We are self-mutilating the body of Christ. I may sing, but it may not be the ability I excel in the most. My friend, on the other hand, may have a beautiful singing voice, much better than my own. What naturally happens? My flesh turns green with envy and wants to scrutinize her for anything and everything because she has what I want. That, my friends, is coveting. And from the seed of coveting, jealousy grows and then flowers buds of violent, hurting words that slowly kill the body.

Our words can speak life or death. I have recently come to realize that I can't be the best at everything. I've always been the person that can be mediocre at everything. I can pick up sports easily, have decent artistic talent, I comprehend concepts well, but I always wanted to be great at it all. Well, the fact of the matter is, I can't. Dangit.

God backhanded me this morning as I was getting ready and reminded me of this scripture, Romans 12:3-5, which is why I've written this. We can't all be an arm if we're a foot. No matter how much I try to dress myself up as an arm, at the end of the day, I'm a foot and I have to accept it and commend the arm for what she does best. (yes, I said SHE).

Lets figure out what part we were created to be and start taking the initiative to encourage and strengthen other parts of the body rather than wish that we were them. I know it will yield good results. Take the scales of condemnation off of your eyes and start viewing others for the importance that they are to you. Because, although we are many parts of one body, we all belong to each other.