(Further reflections on “A Living Body”—Sunday 27-June-20210
Low (self-esteem) or high opinion of oneself is unhealthy, psychologically speaking. Both are not the right mindset, especially for Christ’s followers in the context of the Body of Christ—the local church. Why? Here are some reflections that we can draw out from Romans 12:3-8.
#1. When Christians do not think rightly about themselves, they somewhat do not fully think that God’s grace for them and others are equally the same. They might have also misunderstood God’s judgement. They may think that gifted/talented sinners will have less punishments than non-gifted sinners. Some might even think that the Jews or special Christians are God’s “poster child” and always can get away with God’s judgement since they are the divinely chosen or specially anointed people. We have learned so far that this is not true (review Romans 1-11).
#2. When Christ’s followers do not think rightly about themselves, they might have downplayed their faith and elevated others more than God intended. They might have experienced a feeling of “being small” in the light of popular/well-known Christians or faith giants or anointed speakers/writers/ministers. Sinful humanity is prone to have a “golden calf” which virtually can be anything or anyone that you love to see, hear, know, and spend time with more than the triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
#3. When Church members do not think rightly about themselves, they don’t recognize God-given gifts to them as they are possibly busy looking up to others’ gifts and forget about ‘fanning into flame’ their own or likely wasting time comparing themselves with others. And maybe in some cases, people are just simply being lazy or have settled for a lethargic or lukewarm faith which keeps them comfortable from not growing in the Body of Christ. It usually happens to those who were taught that once salvation is received, no change or growth is needed as the ticket to heaven is secured! How sad this is, but it is common.
#4. When people in a local church do not think right about themselves, the Body of Christ (where they thought/said that they belong to) is being ‘paralyzed’. People hesitate to serve the Lord in the Body because they do not have the right mindset on the above points. They are naturally inclined to protect themselves from growing. They are afraid that they might mess up something or will be corrected by others, especially the pastor! The ‘face’ value in their mind is bigger than the gifts that God had already deposited in their life. They fear that they may upset someone or get hurt by others. In short, they would rather keep the ‘status quo’—keeping relationship at a distance. They do not want to exercise God-given gifts as they already decided to stay the same. Oftentimes, they do self-comfort - “ I can serve God elsewhere and don’t have to be in church.” On the surface this may sound okay. But if you think carefully about this, it won’t work in a family, or school or a company or a social group and even in your own physical body. Picture this. The left hand said to the right hand that I will go and serve somewhere else during the week and on weekends, I will not just watch you (the right hand) doing the house chores. Now if the brain is functional, it won’t allow the left hand to do that. However, in the Body of Christ, although Jesus Christ, the Head of the church, who is perfectly more than ‘functional’ still allow certain body parts to stay ‘paralyzed’, simply because He respects what He created, that is, human freewill.
Like Jacob (ancient Israel) whose hip socket was dislocated (cf. Genesis 32:24-32), who limped the rest of His life, lived out God’s call, and was used by God for His grand plan of making redemption/salvation for humanity, the Body of Christ will continue to victoriously live out God’s call and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to wherever they are in spite of suffering with ‘paralyzed’ body parts. And this is only possible because of the mercy, grace, and steadfast love of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Till He returns,
—
Pastor Lap
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