A Life Worthy to the One who is Worthy

This year we, as a Wesley body, are diving into the idea of how to give our whole lives to the one who gives us life. When I first heard that phrase I began to ask God what that would look like on an individual level. Every time I would sit on this, I would hear this little whisper saying “as you are.”

As you are - I believe that this is actually the best way for us to bring heaven to earth. What I mean by “this” is, embracing the uniqueness God blessed us with in order to glorify His name and walk in greater levels of unity. Remember, unity is not conformity. Unity is working together in agreement for a specific purpose. So, in order to glorify the fullness of God’s glory, we have to embrace the small parts of Him that he placed within each of us. Then we can come together as a whole body and those around us will get to see the full picture; and eventually, they will see that we are all pointing to Jesus.

Since we started work this semester, I have been in awe of how special it is that we were all created so uniquely. One night in particular I was talking with one of my friends about what she was feeling impressed to pray for and as she told me I was wrecked by how important it is to follow the little tugs we feel in our own hearts. While we were both at the same prayer night surrounding the same general topic, God was speaking incredibly different things to each of us… but both were equally important! I began to think about all of the ways that God knit each of us together as intentional creations and then I remembered this piece of scripture: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it… so Christ himself gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God… we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” - Ephesians 4:4-15
 
You have probably heard the analogy relating the body of Christ to the human body before, I love this idea because it paints the perfect visual for how God intended us to function. Obviously my elbow can’t function as my foot, because it was never designed that way. In the same way that my elbow was not created to be my foot, you were not created to be your roommate and your roommate was not created to be you. God has placed unique gifts inside of you that only you have the power to release. So what I mean by this phrase “as you are” is, you have the freedom to be exactly who God created you to be. Just because you don’t pray the same way as the person sitting next to you, doesn’t mean that you don’t have important things to say in order to shift the atmosphere in prayer. Just because you aren’t the most outgoing person in the room, doesn’t mean that you can’t show a stranger the love of Jesus at the grocery store (truly, if you smile at a person and make them feel seen and loved they have experienced the same God they would experience if you walked up and asked if you could pray for them). And just because you don’t feel like you have yourself “as together” as the people around you, doesn’t mean that you don’t have vital things to offer to others in a discipleship or small group setting.

It’s also important to not fall on the other end of this spectrum and live out of frustration when others don’t see exactly what you see. If I were wanting to use my elbow as my foot, but just kept falling down on my face because it wouldn’t work, I couldn’t get mad at my elbow for not working…  it wasn’t created to support the weight of my body. You would all think it was pretty silly if I expected it to work no problem. The same is true among the spiritual body. If you find yourself with a huge heart to spread the gospel and the only thing you can think about is talking to strangers about Jesus, but the person next to you has a heart for pastoring the people within the church, you shouldn’t become frustrated with one another for not doing what God has placed on your heart. Instead, you should team up and acknowledge the importance of both sides and work together to show people the love of God from every angle.

When you live the life you were given with joy and expectation that God wants to use you as much as He wants to use those around you, you are actually honoring Him so much. You are saying “Hey God, you created me in your image and I’m really proud to be your daughter/son.” You are coming into alignment with what God intended your life to be, and what a better way to live a life worthy of the one who is worthy of all things than by living out of the places he always intended for us to live out of.
 
You have SO much more to offer than you give yourself credit for. Comparison only comes to steal your joy. So I challenge you this year to lay down your comparison and start asking God “what do you see in me that is good? What do I have to offer those around me? Where do you want me to use myself?” As He starts to reveal things to you, hold on to them, and let them be the new lens in which you see yourself. As you do that you will be able to step into far greater things than you ever thought possible while you were trying to live like the person next to you.

Author | Tori Kramer