self-actualization: fulfilling one’s individual potential.Believers seek this elusive gem, as if each day short of being fulfilled is a blasphemy against our purpose. We delay activity and greater dreams because we have not yet actualized, anticipating the day when we will “fit” perfectly enough to make a difference in the world. But what if this is one major sham? What if all the waiting and exploring only neglects the bigger picture?
As a freshman at Bethel in the fall of ‘97, I participated in the annual orientation experience: a weekend of team building, card playing, people gazing, and spousal claiming. In other words, it was summer camp. Like every summer camp, they established a contemporary theme for the duration. I didn’t realize what I was swallowing at the time, but our theme was something to the effect of “Where the Pieces Fit.” -- may have been “When the Pieces Fit.“ Someone with an elephant’s memory will remember the exact phrase.
Each freshman was given a single-tone t-shirt with the theme and some interlocking puzzle pieces screened on the front. The back of the shirt made an allusion to the theme, along with its correlation to 1 Corinthians 12. From what I can gather, the message was this: church and community happens when the right pieces fit and work together.
I must admit, for the longest time, I taught spiritual gifts according to this vein. I even considered buying my youth group t-shirts for a conference, stating nothing more than diversified body parts: “ear,” “nose,” “foot,” and the like. I figured that if the kids began to own their branding, we might experience the Body of Christ in a more active way.
Like Bethel, I think my heart was in the right place. But I failed to recognize what many miss today: owning our individual piece brings us no closer to being a body. We do not seek gifts that benefit the body, so much as we desire to be affirmed in our current state of complacency. The cry of our heart to be “used” by God is often misguided by the worldly pursuit of actualization.
I sat praying with college students on the eve of my 30th birthday, excited to gather with the next generation of ministry leaders. I directed them to pray for the anointing that God had laid on their heart, and to explore how God would have them work together in these passions. The first part was easy -- each student knew exactly what “piece” they were, which passion they had been given. They expressed their deep longing to be “used” by God in this way. Some of them had already laid out a framework for their future ministry, which they would be leading.
A dead silence fell over the prayer chapel when I asked about working together. I couldn’t convince them to pray for one another, let alone be concerned with how they might minister with one another.
I don’t think that they were being selfish, and I don’t think that they were being prideful about their gifts. I believe that they had been asked to pursue their potential and passions for so many years, that it never occurred to them that God never did.
I returned to Missouri, and went back to the drawing board. I recalled something that a missionary once shared about the following passage:
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way. (1 Cor. 12:29-31)I began to explore these questions:
1) What are the “greater” gifts?
2) Why would we need to desire any gifts, if our “piece” is self-evident?
3) Why do Bible publishers separate the two sentences in v. 31, such that the second half has been annexed by 1 Cor. 13? (Acknowledging that Paul didn‘t write this letter in chapters, but as a common rebuke addressing specific distortions.)
4) How is a body different than a puzzle?
I’ll address all of these questions in the coming days. I’d like you to stew for a moment. Feel free to respond if you have any thoughts.
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