Lately, I've been doing a lot of baking. Don't
get me wrong, I love to cook and to bake, but lately my mixer
has been working overtime. I've been making cakes, cookies, and
pies; in fact, one day I had to stop my mixer because it was making
that "hot" smell it might make before it bursts into
flames! Luckily, the mixer cooled down, and I was able to continue.
While I'm using my mixer, I often think back to
a passage in Judy Miller's book, Seasons of the Heart.
I'm not going to quote it verbatim but want us to think about
an analogy she made. When I am mixing a cake, I can't just run
my mixer in the middle. If I do, some ingredients are tossed up
on the sides of the mixing bowl and not incorporated into the
cake. If I would just pour this mixture into my pan and bake it,
perhaps it would not rise properly or taste good. There would
definitely be pieces of dry mix or other ingredients, and it wouldn't
be the cake I had intended to make. When I use my mixer, I often
have to stop or slow it down and scrape the sides of my bowl,
getting all of the ingredients into the path of the beaters. Judy
Miller makes the point that it is the same in the church, the
family of God. She states, "It is needed for all of us to
work together with God, so that the unity of faith and the bond
of peace may be seen by all men in the one body of Christ."
Have you ever done a study of the "one another"
passages in the New Testament? In preparing this article, I did
a quick search on a computer program and found 113 references!
Let me list just a few that I found. Romans 12:16 says to "Be
of the same mind toward one another." Romans 14:19, "Therefore
let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by
which one may edify another." 1 Corinthians 12:25, "...
that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members
should have the same care for one another." Galatians 5:13,
"... through love serve one another." Finally, Hebrews
10:25, "... but exhorting one another."
Can we be the one body of Christ if we stay away
from the mixture of Christians who are down in the mixing bowl?
How else can we be of the same mind, edify, care, serve, and exhort
if we're not together?
Ladies, we need the "mixing together"
of each member's faith and love, strengths and abilities, experiences
and sufferings to fortify the whole. Don't allow yourself to be
stuck to the side of the mixing bowl. Get involved in the work
of the church. Get involved in the lives of other members. We
are here to make the body of Christ strong, and, when we allow
ourselves to be mixed with each other and work together using
our different talents and different seasons of life, we will be
the church Christ wants. -105 Blanche Circle, Winchester, VA 22602.
tsmdjm@verizon.net