Living Free Every Day®

Today's Scripture
"Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other." Romans 12:4-5 NLT

Thoughts for Today
Your hobby is assembling puzzle pieces, pasting them, and putting the assembled puzzle on the wall for display. One day while you are diligently working on your 1000-piece puzzle, Dennis the Menace gets hold of one of the puzzle pieces and flushes it down the toilet. You are infuriated by this, and when you tell him of your annoyance, he flippantly says, "I don't know what the big deal is. It's only one piece! You've got 999 other pieces to work with. Why aren't you satisfied with that?"

That one missing piece is important, of course, because without all the pieces to the puzzle, the picture is incomplete. This ruins the beauty of putting the puzzle on display.

Consider this …
Like the puzzle, the body of Christ consists of many parts which together make a complete picture. God has equipped each believer with the particular gifts needed to do what God has called him or her to do. When that person is missing, an important part of God's plan is missing. The picture is incomplete.

God has a perfect plan for his body of believers. Like the pieces of a puzzle, each one has a specific place, a specific task to do. When every piece is in its God-ordained place, the picture is perfect. But when a piece--even one--is missing, the body is incomplete. This week we will consider some reasons pieces of the puzzle may be missing and how to do our part to keep the body functioning as God intends.

These thoughts were drawn from …

One Nation Under God: Toward Race Reconciliation by Donna Saunders, Ph.D. and Jean Leak, MS, RN. This study discusses barriers between people and shows how to make Christ visible through love in action. This guide also offers the way to strengthen and bond relationships. Note: This curriculum was written especially for small groups, and we encourage people to use it that way. However, it can also be used effectively as a personal study for individuals or couples.