Each Gift a Treasure!

     Imagine over 100 booths, filled with the treasures of as many hunters, all under one roof. Add thousands of people eager to add those treasures to their own collections and you have an event I participated in last Fall!

     In the early morning hours before the sale I walked the aisles, enchanted with the dizzying array of items. Though we all shared a common theme - the items in our booths had to be vintage, hand made or re-purposed - each booth was unique! Over 100 booths full, some, of course, featuring similar items, but each as different as the treasure hunter that had filled them.

     Early one Sunday morning I walked into the sanctuary at church, sat down, and quietly watched what was going on around me.

    Musicians were practicing the songs of worship we would sing, greeters were walking up and down the aisles welcoming new faces, ushers passed out bulletins, and one dear friend sat down, put her arm around me and asked if everything was okay! I must have looked like I was lonely sitting there - and though it was intentional, I was blessed by her concern.

     We, as believer's in Christ are not robots, programmed at the time of our salvation to all do the same thing,  but creative individuals serving our Creator! Our church is made up of many musicians - but when one shares their musical gift it is unique from the others. Each different, each valuable!

     When I walked the aisles at the event last Fall I saw a booth that featured signs. A rustic map of the United States caught my eye, and I wondered why I hadn't been clever enough to think of creating something like that! That thought then grew into, "I need to make these myself for the next event!" In one short moment I had looked, envied, and become ungrateful for the treasures I had to offer - coveting someone else's.

     How often does the same thing happen in church? God gives us the ability to serve in a certain area, and we go about it with a heart to please Him - until we look at where He's placed someone else. Paul recognized this problem and addressed it in 1 Corinthians 12:14-19, "For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?"

     If we are all eyes, we will fail to hear the cry of those in need of Christ.
     And if we are all ears, we will not see those who need to be served.

     The truth is, we all need each other, and we need each person just as they are - uniquely gifted. Because God Himself has set us where we are, just as He pleased...