Word for Today

From Ephesians 4:

 ¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,  ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 

Dear friends in Christ, here's me looking up at what was once the largest sitka spruce in the United States. In 2007 there were terrible wind storms on the Oregon Coast and this spruce was not able to stand against it. Now, it is Oregon's biggest stump! It is still an impressive sight. (photo taken by my friend Pastor Wendell Hendershott)

Spending some time in Ephesians, it has become interesting to note that as we grow in Christ, we are growing in the knowledge of Christ, and we're growing up toward the full stature of Christ. We receive salvation from God through Jesus, we are equipped for ministry, we practice these gifts as we bump up against one another, and as we work in harmony with one another. However, there is a promise in these verses that someday there will be a unity among us that shows we are finally in sync with Christ!

For how wonderful that message is, all I can do is take Paul at his word, because usually, I feel about how I look in this picture. Even the stump, a fraction of what once was, is too high for me to achieve. That is one massive stump. Must have been quite a tree! If that's a representation of the stature of Christ, then I give up.

Maybe that's where the Holy Spirit wants me to be, with the goal in mind and my own energies tapped! Then comes a sweet word that tells me "take heart, I have overcome the world," "I am the Bread of Life," "I am the Light of the World." My Lord has become his fullest stature already in me, and now the wrong-est thing I can do is look up and despair over the height of that tree! And the right-est thing I can do is start to look around me. There are so many people and occasions for receiving and giving the grace of God that you and I know in Jesus.

There's good news here, don't you think?

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church