This Week's Devotional: We are Unique for a Purpose

Week 9- February 25-March 3, 2024

This week’s daily readings:

Week 9 - February 25-March 2, 2024

This week’s devotional:

We Are Unique for a Purpose

by Erica Bethke

Scripture:

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 

— Romans 12:4-5 (NIV) 

Reflection:

Have you ever felt like a second-class Christian, or at least a defective one because of some aspect of yourself? Maybe unkind words from others ring in your ears, helping you to believe the lie that you don’t quite measure up in some way. For me, I often struggle to feel like enough because I have a somewhat introverted personality. Things that might seem like a very normal part of the Christian experience often exhaust and overwhelm me. Situations like making small talk with people at coffee hour after church versus one meaningful conversation, a weekend retreat packed with activities, or music played in the background while people are praying out loud. Those are not things I enjoy. 

Given all this, it would be easy for me to view being introverted as a huge liability in my Christian walk. However, in Romans we are encouraged to see others and ourselves as essential parts of one united body. Introverts may not be the feet running to greet everyone in a room, or the arms that readily embrace others making them feel instantly welcome. But they can be the eyes keenly and quietly observing and seeing people at the margins, or the heart that feels deeply and is unafraid to enter into others’ pain to bring about healing. Whether introverted, extroverted, or somewhere in between, God has created each of us uniquely to fulfill his purposes. In Romans 12, verses 6-8 (above), we are encouraged to serve with whatever gifts we have. What would your life look like if you stopped seeing some aspect of yourself as a liability and instead asked God to show you how to use it to serve others? 

Prayer: 

Lord, we thank you for not making us carbon copies of each other. How wonderfully creative you are in crafting each one of us as you have! We ask you to heal us and deliver us from the lies we have believed about ourselves. Forgive us for any part we’ve played in making others feel like second-class citizens in your Kingdom. Please help us to see ourselves and others as you see us: precious sons and daughters being conformed into Christlikeness day by day! Empower us, now, to embrace and to use all that we are for your glory. Amen