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Now You
Are . . .
By Michael
Pemberton
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in
particular.”
I Corinthians 12:27
-Paul,
writing to some badly divided brethren.
Sweat
dripped from my temples
down the side of my face and onto the paper on the desk in front of me. From the outside one would
think I was over
heated, but I was still shivering.
I was
hardly keep my eyes focused and my thoughts straight as I labored to
finish the
mid-term exam in senior level Engineering Economics class. Let’s see, “p
given i for r and n”. I
kept repeating it to myself as I struggled through the net present
worth,
sinking fund, and time value of money problems.
I don’t know what I had, flu our cold,
but I was miserable with
coughing, sneezing, wheezing, pain.
“Finally, half
way through!” I thought
to myself, as I turned the page.
But
alas! Page two had only
one problem, the kind of problem that all students hate. It started with: “Imagine
that you are an
engineer at a large company…” And ended with: “What would you do?” I almost cried. Literally.
I could handle the equation based
problems, but I could hardly hold my
head up, never mind formulating a solution strategy for an imaginary
problem. But I did
what I could. I
read it through several times and finally
decided that either I was completely stupefied by the sickness, or the
problem
didn’t make any sense. I
chose the
“doesn’t make sense” option – partly out of laziness – and wrote, “Call
a
meeting to find out if anybody knows what they really want,” for my
answer.
Two
weeks later, and much
healthier, I sat in class as we prepared to review the exam. Certain that I had failed,
I refused to look
at my paper; instead, I sat back in my chair with my arms folded and
kept my
eyes on the ceiling. Finally,
the professor
got to page two and announced, “Only three of you got the right answer
for this
problem. Mr.
Pemberton, you supplied the
most elegant answer. Would
you please
read us what you wrote?” I
just about
choked. Imagine my
surprise when I
turned the paper over and read the B+ grade on the front.
Talking it
over later with
the professor, I had to ask why she accepted my answer when it really
wasn’t a
strategy, and it’s the same answer I would have given even if I had
never taken
the class. “Because,” she said, “now
you’re and engineer!”
Now. What a
thought! The
perfect present tense.
Can
you see the impact that the Lord meant for this
verse? NOW! Not
someday, not you are
able to be. Now ye
are. And what is it
that you are? You
are the body of Christ. You
are members in particular. Meditate
on this and consider what it
means. Think about
your body, your
members in relation to you.
You feed
them
You care
for them
You clean
them
You
exercise them
You control
them
They serve
you
They are used
to comfort one another
Etc.
But here’s
what I want to emphasize today: We live much of
our lives for tomorrow, and that’s as it should be.
You should prepare for the future. For instance, get an
education. But the
problem is that we have a tendency to
live entirely for the future. Looking
for what we can do for the Lord someday.
But there is nothing lacking in you
today for the work that the Lord has
for you today. Nothing. If you needed something
more, he would have
given it to you. The
most needful thing
is to recognize that you are now the body of
Christ, and begin to follow
his lead. You have
all the status and
privilege of being a member of his body today.
“Beloved” is what he calls you.
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