The Individual Whole

[0:00] A pastor's reflections. The individual whole. Exodus 26. And thou shalt make fifty tachets of gold,! and couple the curtains together with the taches,! and it shall be one tabernacle.

[0:17] 1 Corinthians 12. For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

[0:30] Ephesians 4.4-6 There is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

[0:49] The world we daily interact with is made up of many various parts and pieces. There is, in fact, nothing in this world that exists alone and unto itself.

[1:02] All parts together make up the whole, and yet this does not in any way diminish the role of the individual pieces. Without the individual, there could be no whole.

[1:14] In Exodus 26, God is instructing Moses in the many individual pieces that make up the tabernacle. Each of the varied coverings, boards, sockets, and threads has its own unique part in God's plan for his tabernacle.

[1:33] Was the gold more valuable than the boards? Was the veil more important than the thread? Yes and no.

[1:44] I suppose the gold by itself might declare itself to be of more value than the boards. But without the boards, what would the gold be used to cover?

[1:55] It was the existence of the boards in the tabernacle that gave the gold its place. Was the veil more important than the thread from which it was made?

[2:07] I suppose to a certain extent it was. After all, would one thread pulled from the veil really make that much difference? Yet it is only the individual threads working together that even allow the veil to exist.

[2:24] Romans 14, 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. 1 Corinthians 12, 14-16, 18 For the body is not one member, but many.

[2:41] If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

[2:56] But now, has God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it has pleased him? Never diminish your role in the whole, and never take for granted that without your part, the body cannot be complete.

[3:14] It is easy to overlook the importance of the individual in the makeup of the whole. We can become so focused on the big picture that we forget that a painting only comes into existence one brushstroke at a time.

[3:29] What is the part that God has given you to play today? Perhaps you feel isolated, alone, and very individual.

[3:41] Perhaps all you can see is the piece, and not the whole. And it shall be one tabernacle. Today, no matter how you feel, or what part you play, know that your value is far beyond your single piece.

[4:02] Father, thank you that our value is based not on what we can bring to the body, but on our partaking in the body. However, that truth does not in any way diminish the part that we play in the whole.

[4:16] Thank you that nothing we do is empty, worthless, or alone. Help us today to each individually live out our part in the whole. Amen.