Yesterday I had a quite normal “driving in Africa” moment.
While heading into the office a heard of cows were walking along side the road
I was on. Again, VERY normal for me now.
As I was about to pass them a big cow decided he was not satisfied with
the greenery on his side of the road, with the rest of his heard. He left them
on the right side of the road and crossed over to the left, right in front of
my SUV. Thankfully have good breaks and stopped well enough before we became
closer than I would have ever wanted to be with an African cow.
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| Yes, welcome to the new kind of traffic jam! |
While stopped and waiting for this big-headed cow to finish
crossing so he could enjoy the greens on the other side I saw his heard being
beaten on the right side. The herders were telling the cows “NO.” They wanted
all of them on the same side, which make sense to me. Once, the cow was eating
his new greens and off the road I drove off. As I did my heart, head, and soul
were thinking. The first thing that came to mind was “Don’t be a COW!” A little puzzled by that statement I kept
driving.
As I got closer and closer to the office that statement
started to take on meaning. How often do
we choose to go off and do our own thing? Many times we do it without regard or
thought of others. Our actions hold a consequence for us and the ones around
us. We hardly ever take into a count “the others.” We just think that if we can
deal with what COULD happen, so then we can do it and be ok. But, that is not
how it works. We are a body of
believers. And a body works together. Each part has a job. When one part does
not do its job the others feel it. Just like the heard felt it when one of them
decided to find better food for himself.
1 Corinthian 12:26-28
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.
Now I am not saying that God is going to beat everyone else
around us because we have walked off to do our own thing, our own way. But, I
am highlighting the fact that they will be affected. As a body we are all
connected. And the fact we are all
connected is something that is often forgotten or casted to the side as of
little or no consequence.
“Don’t be COW!” means stop and think about your actions.
Think of how they will not only impact you but your bothers and sisters around
you. How it will impact the ones who do not know Christ. The ones you work with
you. The ones on your sports team. The ones who live on your street and
neighborhood. They are all connected to you in some way and will feel the
consequence of your actions.
More often than not believes have cared very little what for
what their brothers and sisters are doing and how it will impact the body of
Christ as a whole. The thought “as long as they are checking with God than we
are ok,” because the norm. But, how many times have people said that and never
asked that person if they are checking it with God? Asking them why do you feel
the Lord calling you do this? Or even point them to scriptures related to the
topic. Many times it is because we
ourselves have been off doing our own thing. Also many are afraid to offend.
But, again we are a body! The foot in every right can ask the knee why it is
not doing its job. Of course the foot needs to say it in love and genuine caution
for the keen. But the foot needs to tell the knee how its actions are creating consequence
for him, he is carrying too much, the extra weight is now making him not faction
correctly.
Romans 12:3-5
3 For by the grace given me
I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than
you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
That…coming out of love I want to let you know your actions
are impacted others needs to happen. We need to tell people to not be a cow! It
is time we stepped up and encouraged one another, supported each other in their
roles, and more importantly hold them accountable in LOVE. A great lie from the
enemy is that our actions only affect us. Our actions and attitudes affect the
whole body. It is time. “Don’t be a COW!”
Colossians 3:14-16
14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
