The front page of the Fort Worth Star Telegram noted the story of a young girl who just completed the largest jigsaw puzzle in the world--24,000 pieces! It took her more than 4 months and, I'm guessing, a lot of patience. The creator of the 14 foot by 5 foot puzzle titled it "Life"--a panorama of our planet fitting together.
The news article reminded me that the church of Jesus Christ is the largest, interlocking wonder of the world. The church isn't simply a local congregation, but the universal collection of all Believers everywhere. No two "pieces" are the same; Each member is unique [1 Corinthians 12:12]. Each piece has something to contribute to others around it and, likewise, each piece has a "gap" to receive the blessing of others. Each piece is indispensable, necessary for the whole composition [1 Corinthians 12:21-26]. And, when all the pieces come together, each in its proper place, a picture of the "life" of Christ is revealed to the world around us.
My in-laws typically have a jigsaw puzzle in process at their home during the Christmas season. A card table is set up in the living room, two chairs, and a floor lamp moved closer to the workspace. The table is an open invitation for anyone to contribute to the final piece. Sometimes, we work for 15 minutes. I can remember years where I sat for several hours until the puzzle was finished.
The church is an open invitation to anyone to come, sit for a while, search and connect. As we linger with the pieces, we begin to see where we fit into God's greater picture. And, we discover the incredible blessing called "Life."
6 comments:
Good message David. Thanks. Have a great one.
beautiful!!!
Kind of makes me think of God sitting in front of a huge jigsaw puzzle....one piece for every person He ever created.
Some are already in the puzzle.
Some are putting off a decision to be in the puzzle.
Some are lost and don't want to be in the puzzle. They are choosing to be in a different puzzle.
Some think they're in the puzzle, but until they surrender all, they won't fit in.
God sits there patiently waiting for the lost pieces to change their minds. Every piece has a place. God grieves for those empty spaces and He rejoices over the beautiful picture that's being made. God is patient...He's waiting until every soul has been reached with the Good News.
Suzy,
Great thinking. Looks like YOU get to preach this Sunday! :) Thanks for writing.
Daniels, Krill here. -_- So, I'm a huge puzzle lover, having put together a 5,000 piece puzzle when I was in high school I know the patience it takes to put something that large together. Anyway, I'm familiar with this puzzle this girl assembled, it's the World's largest puzzle and many around the world have already completed it. Well, not to ruin your blog or anything, but the number of pieces is 24,000, not 240,000. -_-
So, what in the world was I doing on your blog in the first place? Well, to be honest, there's a huge youth soccer tournament that takes place every year during Easter right there in Dallas. It's called the Dallas Cup. Arguably the biggest, best, and most well known youth tournament in the entire USA. Well, I may be refereeing in it this upcoming year (April 5-12) and was wondering if you and your family would be in town.
God speed.
John
ps - Becca's 39 weeks pregnant! Baby girl coming any day now. -_-
John,
Great to hear from you. Thanks for the 240,000 correction. LOL...a puzzle that big would cover a soccer field. Which reminds me...Yes! We should be in town during that time. IWe would LOVE to see you, Becca and baby! Wow. Let me know.
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