Puzzled
Before a good friend moved to Hawaii several years ago, he gave my family a very nice puzzle. I am positive this was a guilt present. You know what I mean by a guilt present, don’t you?
Let’s take a Dr. Phil moment as I walk you through this explanation: He moved during the winter from the frozen tundra of Ohio, the land of single digit temps on the Fahrenheit scale, to a location where extremely cold weather is when the temp dips below 70 degrees. He gave all his coats to charity before leaving. Snow boots? Gave them to a neighbor.
Now let’s analyze this gift… most definitely a guilt present.
Now, I don’t want to seem unappreciative. I am grateful for the attention and compassion he had for his freezing friend. He visited the islands before moving there, bringing back our gift of a gazillion piece puzzle showing a beautiful view of the ocean waves crashing against the beach.
We felt more than obligated to put this picturesque monstrosity together so we could comment if he ever called. I think maybe he thought we would stay warm with the effort we spent putting the staggering number of little pieces together. After spending three months working with the horrendous little pieces so nauseatingly similar in size and shape, I was ready to chase him down in Hawaii and educate him on the proper etiquette involving guilt presents.
First, guilt presents should never require assembly, especially a gazillion pieces of a picture where the sky and the ocean are indistinguishable in color. Second, guilt presents should be consumable, generally high in calorie content and something everyone enjoys. Third, if you ignore the first rule, never test the second rule before giving the guilt present – that is, I am positive he ate the final piece of our gazillion piece puzzle.
Now I realize this is an absurd accusation, yet it seemed very believable after working with those tiny pieces for so long and finding a hole where the last one would fit.
If you have never put a puzzle together, you may not realize the intense frustration of getting to the end of the long, arduous ordeal, spending grueling hours and days putting the incredibly tiny pieces together, only to find one stinking piece missing. While murder is never a justified crime, a slight choke hold may be in order for my Hawaii bound buddy… not to the point of passing out, but at least seeing some stars.
One missing piece ruins the entire picture.
This is similar to our position in the Body of Christ, specifically in our position in serving God and our fellow brothers and sisters. We find a good description of the church as a body in 1 Corinthians 12:20-27 with, “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 combined the members of the body and has given 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. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
These verses explain we all have our function in a church. Whether we are attending a formally recognized church or a home church gathering, there are different parts of service and there are requirements in establishing a flourishing fellowship. This does not call us to lose our individuality or identities, as some people fear, instead we see “…God has combined the members…” so there would be “…no division in the body…”.
If we were to lose our unique qualities, there would be no benefit to being part of the body and there would be division. We would have been made all the same if God had intended for us to be the same; instead, we are different, each of us with our own special purpose and design – each of us with our own part.
As God combines the members, He is capable of shifting the pieces and developing them to specific roles in the huge puzzle He calls the Body. While I may have spent a few weeks working on my little puzzle, He started His in the Garden of Eden and stretched it across the world. We may only see a portion of His work; He is always focused on the finished product, as His is the ultimate masterpiece in all creation.
We are part of that masterpiece.
We are part of that puzzle.
Which reminds me of how I was frustrated over a tiny missing puzzle piece. Can you imagine how disappointing it must be when we do not step forward to fulfill our role and leave a huge gapping hole in His puzzle?
I rescind any claims to a choke hold on my buddy.
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Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
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