Wholeness

"In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk--better yet, run!--on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline--not fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

You are all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift." Ephesians 4:1-7 The Message

I love how The Message puts this--"I want you to get out there and walk--better yet, run! on the road God called you to travel." Doesn't that just charge you up!? God hates mediocrity. He would rather you be hot or cold, but not lukewarm. He wants our all--not our half-heartedness.

This verse also brings home the importance of fence-mending. When there is brokenness in a relationship, that's when Satan can get in and truly mess up a great thing. Think of all the churches that have disbanded. Think of the marriages and families that have gone awry because of brokenness, of unmended fences.

At times, it takes great love and strength to mend broken fences. But to have your spirit be healthy, you need to have the strength, discernment and grace of God to do so. There is God's timing on fence mending, but usually the rule is, the sooner the better. The longer the fence is broken, the more that gets out--sometimes the harder it is to fix because pride and self-righteousness can set in.

Because you know, we need each other. God designed it that way. He designed us to be our own unique person, with our own unique gift. And we need each other's gift to be a complete, whole body of believers.

I don't know about you, but whenever I have been at odds with someone, I feel awful. It torments me. But as soon as the Lord brings the right time and the right words to mend the fence--what a sense of relief! Once we have made amends, the complete feelings come back into play and the world just seems right.

How about you? Do you need to make amends with someone? Do you need to put aside the fact that it doesn't matter who is wrong or right? The more important fact is that you need to be complete--to be whole.