10 February 2021
There is an in-house joke in our family that when one of the adults say that they are hungry they are offered fruit or nuts to eat but when the grandchildren say they are hungry they have a selection of a small packet of chips, a sweet biscuit or cookie or another treat that may be in the house.
And so it was after offering some mixed nuts to my adult son Joel (who kindly declined) I poured out a few into my hand and looked down at them.
Thoughts started entering my mind. Questions. I wonder how old the nuts are? (Probably ancient because my children so often decline them.) Where did they all come from?
There are so many different ones in my hand, so many different flavours, shapes, sizes. Some broken. Some whole. There are peanuts, (so common to the nut world), cashews, brazil nuts, almonds, chestnuts, macadamias…….Some salted, roasted…….all different, all come from different areas in the world but collectively are called NUTS.
It made me reflect upon humanity. Yes, do laugh, for I did. This handful of nuts made me think of all the different people in the world. And funny to say but a scripture…
12 For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ.
1 Cor 12:12 AMP
What an odd thought pattern I thought.
But I was intrigued to know more about this body part that I am – in Christ.
And so I went to read the whole scripture in this chapter.
The start of Chapter 12 states.
1 Now about the spiritual gifts [the special endowments given by the Holy Spirit], brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
1 Cor 12:1 AMP
Oh that intrigued me even more. I want to be fully informed. Who does not? No one likes to not know. What did the Holy Spirit want to tell us via Paul? (who is writing this letter).
4 Now there are [distinctive] varieties of spiritual gifts [special abilities given by the grace and extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit operating in believers], but it is the same Spirit [who grants them and empowers believers]. 5 And there are [distinctive] varieties of ministries and service, but it is the same Lord [who is served]. 6 And there are [distinctive] ways of working [to accomplish things], but it is the same God who produces all things in all believers [inspiring, energizing, and empowering them]. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit [the spiritual illumination and the enabling of the Holy Spirit] for the common good.
1 Cor 12:4-7 AMP
Again it made me think.
We are all made differently. The obvious is we are all from different cultures, different creeds, different families. But we also have different gifts and abilities. Different ways we serve. Different ways we share. Different ways we see things and do things BUT there should be UNITY, ONENESS under the Holy Spirit. ALL USED differently but together for the common good. For ALL.
The nuts in my hand were all different. Even if from the same nut family, some larger than others, some broken (by stress from the environment they had been in), some odd shapes, some distinctly more flavoursome. But ALL NUTS in their own right.
Why do humans compete so much? Try to be someone else? Are we not, though different, ALL HUMAN?
We even compete in how we serve in different works of the Church. Be honest, we know this often happens. Do we all not have the same mission? That people would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 11 showed me that our abilities, our gifts, are NOT chosen by us. Where we come from, how we are made, what we look like are NOT chosen by us. There is no need to compete, to feel less than, to try and be someone else. (It’s like a peanut trying to be a cashew)
11 All these things [the gifts, the achievements, the abilities, the empowering] are brought about by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, distributing to each one individually just as He chooses.
1 Cor 12:11 AMP
And so I need to concentrate on being the best I can be, with how I have been made, with MY gifts and abilities.
Again my eyes glanced to the group of nuts in my hand.
I need to be the BEST peanut I can be!
Then and only then will I contribute to make the BEST NUTS EVERMADE.
And so we ALL ARE from the ONE BODY but I need to play MY part.
Even if I happen to just be a toenail.
I’m going to be the best toenail ever!!!!!! (just painted with bright pink nail polish, cause that’s who I AM!)
May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’
Love
Rosemary
Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Are you using the gifts and abilities that God has given you?
Do you compare your gifts to other people’s gifts?
How can you step into all that God has called you to be?