Today’s Reading: John 16:31-32 (NIV)
31 “You believe me at last!” Jesus answered, 32 “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”
Good morning!
Cleaning up has its challenges, but nothing was harder than trying to put the children’s puzzles back together, at night before they went to bed. At first, it wasn’t all that difficult. But as they grew older, their 10-piece puzzles became 500-piece puzzles, and we would somehow manage to lose small pieces, scattered around the floor and under the furniture. There were times when we gave up trying to put the puzzle back together. Have you ever given up trying to find that one missing piece?
It is the same thing with the body of Christ. Every person is uniquely important – a valued and integral part of our community of faith. No one should be scattered or lost on a whim. In order to function properly, we need each and every person to be complete. Jesus knew that when they were all together, believers would be stronger, bonded together in love. Yet, there would come a time in the not so far off future when the body would be scattered, like tiny puzzle pieces on the floor. Hearts would unintentionally be lost in the fray, and there would be vital missing pieces in action.
If you have somehow found yourself separated from the body of Christ, it is important for you to know just how much we miss and need you. Your presence and all that you bring to community is vitally important to the work God has prepared for us to do. You are precious and loved by God. He created you specifically with a plan and purpose, and together, we can help each other live out His call in community. We are incomplete when you are not here. Won’t you please come back to Faith?
One day, the Lord will return and bring His scattered ones home. He will take the fragmented in faith and bind them together into one glorious body, as we worship the Lord together in Spirit and in Truth for all eternity. The Father will reveal His greatest work through the Son, as the redeemed are made perfectly whole in Jesus Christ. Now this is a life puzzle worth finishing!
Grace and peace,
Deb Spaulding
Faith UMC - St. Charles, MO
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