We
are uniquely designed and created by God for a specific purpose and mission in
this world. The last thing we need to be is “all the same” as if created and
built on an assembly line. We need to be different. We need to recognize this
difference as a necessity and not as a threat to our own uniqueness.
1
Corinthians 12:21-27 illustrates for us that we are individually
designed to function in our own special way…the way we were designed. The
passage states “the eye cannot say to the
hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need
you.’ …now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Although
we are all different, we are all created for the same purpose to glorify God
and to love one another as He has loved us. We may all be different, but we are
all equally created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We, being same in
creation, should treat each other equally with dignity, respect and love.
In
today’s challenges of racism and desire to instill fairness and equality for
all, we can take one step towards accomplishing this goal. One way to end
racism is to look in the mirror and properly assess ourselves.
Romans 12:3 tells us, “For by the grace given
me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than
you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with
the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
We must maintain
a proper evaluation and balanced understanding towards ourselves and others. Yes,
we have value and recognize that, but not at the expense of others. This means
that we also must guard against just the opposite….of thinking too little of
ourselves. It makes for a healthy (sober) evaluation to think of ourselves as
not better than others while not losing our self-esteem to think we are less
than others. Balance!
It was no
different for the Disciples of Jesus. They failed at it a time or two as they
argued amongst themselves concerning who was “the greatest.” The best thing we
can do to combat elevating ourselves above others is to never waste our time making comparisons. When we compare “this”
with “that” and “little” against “big” or any type of “less than – greater than”
comparisons, we will always lose.
It should be
a joy and cause for celebration when we can recognize the roles, abilities,
gifts, talents, personalities and contributions of others because of knowing
that all these wonderful things come from God and that He, alone, assesses the
worth it has to Him.
The key to an
honest and accurate evaluation of ourselves and knowing the basis of our
self-worth is rooted deeply in our identity in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ
our identity places every single one of us on equal ground. As we believe, as
Free Methodists, that “We commit
ourselves to respect the worth of all persons as created in the image of God” (2019
Book of Discipline, Paragraph 158).
The bottom
line is for us to understand that there is no place in a believer’s life for
inflated pride, superiority, or even inferiority. We must always battle our
sinful nature that wars against us to make us think of ourselves as better than
others or to harbor prejudice or racism in our heart and mind against those
different from us.
As we
continue to have discussions regarding racism and equality, let us remember our
Free Methodist denomination’s statement that “We are committed to give meaning and significance to every person by
God’s help. Remembering our tendency to be prejudicial, as Christians we must
grow in awareness of the rights and needs of others.” (2019 Book of
Discipline, The Christian Journey, Paragraph
3221). May we continue to keep a healthy (sober) evaluation of ourselves and
others that are equal in Jesus Christ.