By
Allen White
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every
supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its
work. Ephesians
4:16
It’s fun to discover something new about yourself. If you’ve
ever taken a spiritual gifts test or a personality test, you get jazzed from
the insight into what it is that God created for you to do. The Bible tells us
that there are many parts of the body (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12: Ephesians
4). The parts are not identical, that’s for sure.
Every one of us is gifted and called to do a work (1
Corinthians 12:7). It’s great to find out how we can make our individual
contribution to the Kingdom. But, this verse touches on something else related
to our gifts.
Gift discovery is not just a means of feeling good about
ourselves and our purpose in life. This verse adds some context to the use of
our gifts: we are a part of a whole. Our growth is contingent on the growth of those
around us. Spiritual growth is not merely a self-pace, self-help program. In
fact, spiritual growth leads us to become more focused on others and less
focused on self.
The key to our spiritual growth is connection. Not just
connection to God, but connection to each other. Paul gets anatomical on us
here, by evoking the image of ligaments that join and hold us together. “Ligaments are fibrous bands or sheets of
connective tissue linking two or more bones, cartilages, or structures
together” according to Dr. Keith Bridwell of the Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Without ligaments, the body of
Christ would be just a bag of bones.
We would have all of the parts. All of the parts would be
together, but the parts would like coordination. I would do my spiritual thing.
You would do your spiritual thing. We would live in harmony as long as our
spiritual things didn’t collide. But, sometimes the collision produces the
growth.
Study, prayer and meditation on God’s Word are all wonderful
things to help us grow. We certainly need to seek quiet and solitude at times
to hear God above the din of this world. But, this type of spiritual growth is
only one dimensional. Our spiritual growth must be integrated into our whole
lives.
Yes, growth takes place in solitude. But, growth also takes
place serving side by side and connecting in a small group. We gain much from
the experience and insights of others.
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