A Birds Eye View
June 6, 2024 by admin
Filed under Personal Growth
Dancing around from side to side, taking shortcuts underneath the plants to the next row, the bird constantly pecked into the earth, ferreting around for the first meal of the day. Occasionally the bird would stop and “chew” and swallow some undetermined shard but then, all of a sudden, the uncompromising peck into the fertile ground brought forth a prize-sized earthworm worthy of fastidious consumption! Little by little the earthworm disappeared into the contented stomach of my feathered garden guest!
I pondered the activity of the small bird just a few feet away from where I was sitting on my garden bench. Instantly I began thinking of the body of Christ!
First, I saw how nature takes care of itself. This is the natural way God intended. God provides for the field of nature through other aspects of nature. There is no wrong in this regardless of how much it pains us to see the less aggressive creature being over-powered by the more brute of the two. The visceral temperament vies for survival and the more dominant remains.
Then, quite the opposite of the first thought, how horrible that these trespassers come in and eat alive the native tenants!
Do you see the differences of the two thoughts as it applies to the body of Christ? Nature takes care of nature as Christians should take care of other Christians or do Christians sometimes eat one another alive!
We are the body of Christ. Never should we be seen as eating one another alive but, rather, as nature feeds on nature we should be seen as uncompromisingly feeding the needs of one another. Sometimes God uses us as the principal character of a situation and we lead the way in His behalf. Other times, like the worm, we play the role of sacrifice for a situation. In either function we are displaying His character in caring for the body!
PRAYER: Dear Lord, Let me always be part of building up the body of Christ and rejecting all that will damage it.
“Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God,” Romans 15:7 KJV.
Today’s devotion is by Nancy Anderson, a pastoral care/trauma resolution counselor in the Atlanta area. She is founder and Executive Director of LifeSong Ministries, Inc. She previously served as a women's minister and president of the Southern Crescent Women's Ministry Forum. Learn more at: http://notesfromnancya.blogspot.com/, www.lifebuildersccc.vpweb.com
