Sep
22
God’s Uniform
Filed Under Life
This may have happened to you before. A certain issue or theme will pop up multiple times. You see it in a book you’re reading, you overhear a conversation about it or your pastor preaches on it. Last week, for me, it was using people in the body of Christ to encourage growth. In the past, I’ve dealt with many issues internally or through writing. That was my own therapy. Yet I’ve realized many of those issues weren’t really dealt with or worked through. They were merely suppressed, only to pop up at the the most inconvenient times.
But opening up to people to share your junk with is scary. It’s a risk. If they knew what was inside, would they remain at your side? If they knew what you’ve done or who you were, would they love you the same? Not all will, but there are people God places in our lives for that very thing. God created all of us to need one another. He did not create us to go through life alone. As Dr. Henry Cloud describes it, people are God’s Plan A. Henry wanted God to send down a lightning bolt to quickly resolve his problems. He felt shafted when he realized God used the people in his life to resolve his issues instead. He felt he got a second-hand response. Then he read Ephesians 4:16, which says, From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Henry then writes, I had wanted God to heal me, but thought I had to “settle” for his getting people to do it. But it was God doing it, in and through people. This might seem like a nuance, but for me the idea was life-changing. It helped me realize that God was not far off and uninvolved, just delegating things to people. God did not delegate the process at all. He wore people as his uniforms. He came to live inside people and then lived out his wishes and will through them in a mystery called the Body of Christ. Jesus was with me all along by being in all of those who were helping me.” (How People Grow)
When others help us, God is wearing them as his uniform to act. When we help others, we are the uniform God has chosen.