Don’t underestimate your life. Jesus is the head of the Church and we are the body. While the world celebrates the visual part of the body, the seemingly unimportant things are what really make the body tick.

But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable. 1 Corinthians 12:20-23

Jesus designed the Church to have variety, and each gift is important. If the little toe is missing from the foot, the whole body finds it hard to balance. Christianity is not about the performance of one celebrity or the function of a few “cool people,” but it is the “proper working of each individual part” (Ephesians 4:16)—that means you and your unique gifts are crucial, even if you feel like you are just a little toe!

There are different ways of serving God, but it is the same Lord who is served. God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purposes through them all. Each man is given his gift by the Spirit that he may make the most of it. 1 Corinthians 12:5-7 J.B. Phillips Translation

The best way to understand God’s plan for the Church is to start with yourself and figure out what God’s particular gift-download is in you. As you meditate on the Word and see yourself how God sees you, you will break out of insecurity, painful comparisons, and others’ molds, and be who God called you to be!

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. Romans 12:2 J. B. Phillips Translation

Look to Jesus,
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright ©2010 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. JB Phillips reference: Copyright ©1958-1972 by JB Phillips; The Gospels. All rights reserved.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

Without agape—the God kind of love—all other loves fall short. God’s love is different from natural human love; it’s supernatural and changes a person. Agape love is value: looking at a person and realizing that is someone for whom Christ died.

If you started out walking the love walk, but over time life has dealt you a weird hand and your attitude has changed, go back to the Bible and see the pattern that God set in place. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

You can’t control other people, but you can control yourself. Here is a description of love adapted from 1 Corinthians 13. It’s been modified so you can confess it over your own life every day—or ten times a day!

• I am patient.
• I am kind.
• I am not jealous.
• I don’t brag.
• I am not arrogant.
• I don’t act unbecomingly.
• I don’t seek my own.
• I am not provoked.
• I don’t take into account a wrong suffered.
• I don’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoice with the truth.
• I bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. I won’t be driven off course, because love never fails!

Press on!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2009 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

The value of something is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it. The world evaluates worth based on appearance, performance, and status. But God doesn’t make superficial evaluations. Whether you are doing great or not so great, He absolutely loves you. You are worthy because of the blood of Jesus that reconciled you to God!

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17

In order for us to operate fully and effectively in the ministry of reconciliation, we must know who we are in Christ. The devil wants to keep us from seeing ourselves in the mirror of the Word so that we stay dominated by our flesh, fears, and sensory impulses. But God’s Word identifies us clearly and transforms us completely: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

Forget conforming to the expectations of the world. If you want to live radically for Jesus, get your mind on what God has intended you to be: someone who walks in close fellowship with Him and who carries the message of reconciliation to a lost world.

You are loved by God!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2009 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.