Monday, March 14, 2011

The Road Through Ephesus... Carefully and Uniquely Ephesians 2:21

Today is Pi day (3.14) and we are celebrating by having pot pies for dinner followed by a Hershey's Chocolate Creme Pie for dessert. Yum.  And the weather is beautiful outside and it promises to stay beautiful for most of this week.  So other than I'm still fighting a cold, this Monday has been pretty good so far.

And since it's been so wonderful, I thought maybe we could add to that and jump back into Ephesians.  We're almost at the end of chapter two!  I can hardly believe it!  Anyways, Ephesians:

Ephesians 2:21

"We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord."

When I first looked at this verse there was one word that jumped out at me right away: carefully.  In this verse it describes how we are joined together in him.  And I love it.  Maybe because I have a hard time doing anything carefully.  It doesn't matter how hard I try to be careful, many times the klutz in me comes out instead.  Whether is breaking something that's delicate (it's why I try not to own anything that will break too easy), twisting my knee (more times than I can count), or hitting myself in the face while signing (I think my depth perception must be off, but the kids get a laugh out of it), I struggle with being careful.

And the fact that this verse declares about us being carefully joined together in Christ is beautiful.  He treats us with care.  But not only that, we each have a specific place, a specific design in his house, as his church.  He places us with care, knowing our uniqueness.  He knows our desires, our gifts, our passions.  He's created us to fit perfectly and carefully into the body, into his temple.

Because he has redeemed us and bought us, we are his holy temple. The Greek for the word that is translated holy is hagios. The word implies something that is set apart or different.  Something that is distinguished, distinctive, and unique. Which is what we are to be in Christ.  We are to be like him and different from the world.

I love it because God knows our uniqueness and uses that to place us carefully and perfectly.  And, as a body of believers, all our uniqueness that he has given us comes together to form a temple for him that is unique and distinctive.  It has the very essence of Christ written all over it.  It's built into the walls and stamped in the concrete.

It's beautiful.

Thankfulness...


111. Uniqueness that has Jesus written all over it


112. The need to use my sunglasses for more than just the glare off the snow.




113. Celebrating the little holidays in fun ways.


114. A desk with a white board top to write my to-do  list and shopping lists on.




115. Knowing that spring is coming!


116. Early bedtimes.


117. Chocolate cupcakes. Yum!


118. Students who want and ask for my help!!


119. Weekends


120. The things that make having a cold more bearable.




121. Skype dates with the bestie.


122. Translating music in ASL


123. Cracks in life


124. Everyday silliness


125. Hot Vanilla Chai Tea with Truvia


126. A friend who understands translating problems and is willing to help work through them.











4 comments:

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed your post, Holly. I too am very klutzy. It is astonishing sometimes how unique we are, and loved so much for it. Beautiful post. Thank you for sharing it at NOBH. Blessings!

Heather Jones said...

We are in the book of Ephesians too at our Church. I'm following from the No Ordinary blog hop. I'd love for you to follow back.

A chocolate creme pie sounds amazing right now.

Heather From and Mommy Only Has Two Hands!

Craig said...

I’m here from Ann’s – just took a while to get here :)

Oh, and your study – I heart that – set apart, unique, different – holy – amen.

And because it’s absolutely necessary for life, because we couldn’t love very long or very well without it my favorite from your list this week is: 124. Everyday silliness

Thank you for this, and God Bless and Keep you and all of yours.

asliceofsmithlife said...

MMMMMM...your pie day menu sounds yummy! Love this post and it's amazing that God can make so many millions of combinations with just 2 eyes, nose, and mouth :) We are unique physically, mentally, spiritually, but like you said when we bring our gifts and talents together, people can do some amazing things for His glory! Thanks for linking up to NOBH and I'm following you now!