Community

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am really passionate about community.

 I am passionate about communication and unity.

I am passionate about people using their giftings to benefit the larger community, culture and world.

And recently I've found myself thanking God for the community that surrounds me each and every day as I wake, attend classes, work, socialize, eat and sleep. It is a community that is filled with deep, critical thinkers. It is a community where God's name is honored and His perspective is sought. It is a community of prayer and praise.

Not everyone has that community.

We've been talking about what it means to be made in the image of God, in Theology class. Its deeper than just having a soul, it involves responsibility-- in how we treat, view and speak of and to each other. It involves who we are. Its a part of our identity. Our instructor said that it was as though the very fingerprints of God are upon us. And its true. He has marked us as His. He allows us to reason, think, feel, act, love and express ourselves, as He does.

It is a privilege to be made in the image of God. And yet, its also a responsibility. It means that we are to treat ourselves and those around us with dignity, value and respect. No one is exempt. We are all made in the image of God.

If you're breathing, you've got His fingerprints upon you. That spurs us to live with an eternal perspective-- realizing that this life is about much more than just ourselves and our own little worlds. Its about HIM and what He is doing in the world, in the community and through us.

Our lives affect those around us. I am grateful that He allows us to be a small part of what He is doing on the earth. He doesn't have to allow us to be involved, and yet He delights to use that which He created to speak His truth and glory to the world.

So today I am reminded and grateful for this truth:

"To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another utterance of knowledge according to the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills."

1 Corinthians 12:7-11

Let's celebrate our different gifts. Let's walk in community and unity and appreciate that we serve a God that loves diversity.