Recently, I caught up with a friend who I rarely get to spend good quality time with. She is an extrovert, full of enthusiasm, drive and passion for Christ. She is a country girl at heart and very down to earth.
I was looking forward to spending some great sharing moments with her and to be around her exuberance which I find uplifting. Over the following two hours we covered many different topics with laughter, joy, seriousness, concern, and prayer. It was a wonderful time of friendship and love. As we were finishing up she mentioned that she feels a sense of calmness and peace when she is with me.
Likewise, I was encouraged and spurred on by her energy and motivation for Christ. We left that day feeling blessed by one another's gifts and personalities.
I realise that as a quiet introvert who finds solitude comforting and renewing, I sometimes need others around me who are energetic and exuberant to encourage me to move and get going. Likewise, extroverted. and outgoing people can benefit from the presence of a "quieter, reflective" person to help them to be still, slow down and reflect. We need each other and we complement each other with our God-given gifts and personalities.
Paul speaks of the community of believers as a body where each person is a different part, providing a function to the body. Each part is vitally important for the health, growth and overall well-being of the body. One part is not greater than another so each part should have equal concern for the other and so be united in love(1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
It is in our mutual dependence as we exercise our our distinctive God given gifts that accomplishes God's purpose of unity and harmony among believers with Christ as the focus. "God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be (verse 18)" and "we were all given the one Spirit to drink (verse 13)." By God's grace we exist as one in our diversity and are strengthen by the Holy Spirit who indwells each believer so that their lives may overflow with the fruit of the Spirit, building up the body in love and maturity (Ephesians 4:14-16).
But for some of us we struggle to let others come in and help us. I am reminded through Jesus's act of humility and service as he washed the disciples feet during the last supper (John 13:1-17) and through his ultimate act of humility and love on the cross, that He leaves us the example to follow, that we must show the same love for one another and the same humility. An attitude of humility in essential to allow others to love us, help us, teach us, guide us, gently correct us and uphold us in prayer.
I was looking forward to spending some great sharing moments with her and to be around her exuberance which I find uplifting. Over the following two hours we covered many different topics with laughter, joy, seriousness, concern, and prayer. It was a wonderful time of friendship and love. As we were finishing up she mentioned that she feels a sense of calmness and peace when she is with me.
Likewise, I was encouraged and spurred on by her energy and motivation for Christ. We left that day feeling blessed by one another's gifts and personalities.
I realise that as a quiet introvert who finds solitude comforting and renewing, I sometimes need others around me who are energetic and exuberant to encourage me to move and get going. Likewise, extroverted. and outgoing people can benefit from the presence of a "quieter, reflective" person to help them to be still, slow down and reflect. We need each other and we complement each other with our God-given gifts and personalities.
Paul speaks of the community of believers as a body where each person is a different part, providing a function to the body. Each part is vitally important for the health, growth and overall well-being of the body. One part is not greater than another so each part should have equal concern for the other and so be united in love(1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
But for some of us we struggle to let others come in and help us. I am reminded through Jesus's act of humility and service as he washed the disciples feet during the last supper (John 13:1-17) and through his ultimate act of humility and love on the cross, that He leaves us the example to follow, that we must show the same love for one another and the same humility. An attitude of humility in essential to allow others to love us, help us, teach us, guide us, gently correct us and uphold us in prayer.
Our Lord, we confess our need for you,
we recognise our need for one another.
Renew our understanding of your loving-kindness
and restore in us an attitude of humility and love for one another.
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