My Style

OK, ladies, have you ever walked into a shop carrying a photo and said, “I want this hair style.”  The stylist looked at the picture, at you and she didn’t laugh out loud.  Some stylists will cut your hair and it will come close, but not match.  After you go home and fix it yourself, it no longer matters, for the hair is yours and you get used to it.

Sometimes, though, it becomes a test of wills – you are determined to make your style confirm to the picture you had in mind in the first place – or else!

I’ve seen young Christians compare themselves to a church member they want to be. Instead of keeping their eye on Christ, they look to Mr. Example for their standards and service to the Lord.

Often, standard setting is good – our Youth Minister has high standards for his life and our youth would do well to use him as Mr. Example for study time, prayer time, witnessing, Bible reading – all those things are very good for getting to know and serve our Lord.

However, we need to be asking the Lord where our service should be. And, we need to remember the root word is “serve” and that comes from a Middle English word for “slave.” If that bothers you, get over it.

The focus here is understanding that what fits for one person does not fit for anyone else.  Close to, at times, but individual service is not a clone of another’s no matter how much their service is appreciated.

For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? (1 Corinthians 12:14-16 KJV)

If God has chosen us to be a mouth, we will not be comfortable trying to live up to Mr. Example’s calling as a hand. If we are called to be feet, our service will not go anywhere without feet to move.

Which part of the body can we do without and still function? To which can we say “I don’t want to be this body part – it’s not where I fit.”

And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: (1 Corinthians 12:21-22 KJV)

The church as a whole is the body, whether we’re speaking of the local congregation where we begin service or the entire body that lives through eternity. The church, made of many, is a single unit:

And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26 KJV)

In each of the congregations I’ve worshiped, there have been members I’ve admired for a wide variety of reasons. There have been many Examples I would like to have been – but God called me for a specific purpose, and for that I have been brought to this place. My style comes from Him.