“…but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Eph4.15 NKJV
I have experienced a few epiphanous moments in my Christian life. When these realizations dawn, one wonders why they did not see them before. One which stands out, came to me in church. The preacher was explaining the Lord’s Prayer, a familiar enough passage for me to be lulled into thinking that he would not tell me anything I didn’t already know. He made an observation which was simple enough, but one that I had never thought about. When he drew it to attention it was like an explosion of light and the fact that I had not seen it before was as revealing of some ugliness in me as it was to its own beauty. And what was this realization? Simply put, when Jesus commanded us to pray he did not tell us to say, Give me my daily bread, or forgive me my sins. Instead He instructed that when we pray, we pray not as an individual but as a collective. Give us our daily bread, Forgive us our trespasses. Just like that, I was awakened to my own self centeredness and to the realization of my connectedness to every other Christian. Even when I pray alone, I am praying as one cell among many. My personal growth cannot be separated from the growth of the body. I am to care as much for my brother’s bread as I do my own.
It is also sobering to realize that I may confess and ask forgiveness for another. Of course the Head is always directing the body to serve all the other parts. The heart and lungs cannot be in shape without the legs and feet, nor they, without the mouth and stomach.
This realization of course has changed the way I pray. I also often wonder who else am I hurting when I fail to abide in Christ or helping when I do.
