How do we physically take care of our body well? That is a question many women find themselves thinking about often. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” A verse heard commonly. What does that mean exactly?
It matters how we’re asked to be a part of something. There’s a difference between asking someone, “Hey, do you want to go into a packed Nicaraguan jail and share the Gospel?” versus asking, “Hey, did you hear about the informational meeting about the mission trip to Central America?” There’s a difference between asking someone, “Will you put your schedule on hold unexpectedly today, pick up some Braum’s, and sit in a median to eat breakfast with a homeless man?” versus asking, “Have you noticed the homeless people on the drive to church every Sunday?”
“How are you?” “Pretty good. Just tired.” If we only had a nickel for every time we responded this way or heard this from our loved ones. A few years back, Ryan (my husband) and I had gotten to a point where we were complaining of being tired constantly. We were both working full time jobs, leading a small group, trying to stay connected to our people, starting grad school, etc. These good things that God had given us had become a chore. Exhausted, we looked at each other and knew something HAD to change.
We have all heard the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child.” As a church, we don’t just believe that children need a village, we believe that every human needs a village. What we love about our village is that it is Christ-centered and our church is an extension of our household families. Ephesians 1:4-5 tells us that we are adopted into God’s family through Jesus Christ. The church is not just a building, it is the people inside that are a direct extension of the family.
As a child, I loved the felt board in Sunday School. Really, the physics of a piece of magazine-like paper sticking to a vertical surface is what interested me the most. But those felt board pictures stuck in my mind too. They taught me the compartmentalized stories of certain people from particular stories in the Bible. Short stories are a great way to teach children, but we all need to grow into an understanding of the Bible for formation not just information. Seeing the overarching “metanarrative” (or big picture) of Scripture is a great first step beyond reading the Bible for information. Here I’ll cover creation, fall, and salvation (redemption), but know that consummation (restoration when Jesus returns) is also included in the meta-narrative.
The more time I invest in getting to know God through reading His Word, looking for signs of His presence and character in His created world, and listening to His indwelling Spirit, the more aware I am that there is so much more of Him to know. And the more of Him that I do know, the more I want to know! Yes, I know Him better than I used to, but not as well as I would like or as I believe I one day will. While I don’t want to miss knowing all that I can about God on this side of Heaven, I also appreciate that God is more magnificent and multi-layered than my mortal mind can fully grasp. This is all both perplexing and inspiring.
In the first chapter of the opening book of the Bible, God repeatedly states that we as humans are made in His image, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the live-
stock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27, ESV)
