Monday, July 21, 2008

WE ARE THE BODY

Romans 12: 3 – 13


There are days when I read something that I disagree with politically, or theologically, and all I want to do with my writing is to rant and rale against the article that spurred the anger in my flesh. I want to point out the hypocrisy of leaders with their do as I say, not as I do attitudes.
A political example is when Al Gore comes along with his: “The Earth has a fever” movement.
He recently held a conference in Washington D.C. and asked that all attendees to either ride bicycles or take public transportation to the event, to reduce the “carbon footprint” of the conference, while he and his entourage arrived in a fleet of limos and SUV’S that remained parked and idling running the AC for the entire time that Mr. Gore and his family were in the conference, thereby increasing the "carbon footprint" for all involved, so that they would be able to get into a nice cool car for the ride home.
Examples in the Christian community include Jimmy Swaggert, Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, among others, and we all know the widely publicized activities they were involved with.
There you see? There I go again. I had intended to write on my interpretation of the verses for today and I went on an almost wild rant. What started it was an article on air pollution and its global impact. An Associated Press report quoted atmospheric scientist Dan Jaffe: “There is no place where you can put away your pollution anymore.” Every nation shares the world’s atmosphere and is affected by the actions of others.
I thought to myself; “That’s right”! Then I thought that’s the way it is in the body of Christ. Everybody is affected by the actions, or inactions of others. Every time a high profile leader falls short of the glory of God, we are all held up as hypocrites in the secular media. Our obedience to the Lord may seem insignificant in the big picture, but it breathes freshness and life into the spiritual atmosphere of every believer. The interesting thing to me is that Paul knew this stuff and wrote about it in the book of Romans.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Let’s all follow the teaching of God. Okay?

We don’t live unto ourselves,
We’re part of one another;
For good or ill we touch a life
Of sister, friend, and brother. —D. De Haan

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