Completing The Picture!

My wife loves jigsaw puzzles. The bigger and more complicated the better. And I love to help her . . . when she gets down to the last few pieces. She has more patience with the process than I do. However, when she has finished a puzzle I do enjoy looking at the completed picture.

This past December my wife purchased a jigsaw puzzle for a gift exchange and then selected it for herself. That's how much she enjoys puzzles. She had started putting it together right prior to our daughter and son-in-law coming to visit. Seeing the puzzle, they decided to help finish it. Both of them knowing I like to do my part by helping when there are only a few pieces left, they let me know when it was time to put in the final piece. That final piece was not on the table and their assumption was that I had taken it so that when they had finished the rest, I could walk into the room, put in the last piece, and lay claim to having helped complete the picture. However, I had not pulled that stunt this time. There actually was one piece missing from this new puzzle. The picture could not be completed. A beautiful picture marred by a noticeable empty space.

Perhaps we don't always consider how our ABSENCE keeps various pictures in life from being complete. Like a puzzle that has been assembled except for one piece, that EMPTY SPOT DETRACTS from the beauty and completeness of the picture. This occurs when we have chosen to be ABSENT from Bible study opportunities, worship assemblies, or youth group functions. It is the case when we choose to not join in works of service in which the congregation is involved. The majority of the picture may be appreciated, but the reality is it is incomplete without OUR PIECE IN PLACE!

In Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, he exhorted. . .
"(15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, WHEN EACH PART IS WORKING PROPERLY, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." ( Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV)

We each have a place within the Body of Christ (the church). That place needs to be given serious consideration with regard to how OUR PLACE affects the rest of the Body. Are we fulfilling OUR PART of the picture of the Body of Christ being built up in love? Are we a piece of the bigger picture that is helping hold together the pieces that surround us? Perhaps we are puzzled by the ABSENCE of others. Let us not leave others puzzled about our part as we accept OUR PLACE. Instead of being missing, let us BE IN OUR PLACE to help the world see the picture as Christ would have it. Rather than leaving a hole, may we be a connecting part of the whole!

Have a great day BEING WHERE WE BELONG!
Carl

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