• How can you let him treat you like that?
• Will you just let her step all over you like that?

The world asks questions like these when we see people treated a certain way because we are taught to stand up for what’s ours. The world tells us to proclaim “yours” & “mine.”  Nevertheless, followers of Jesus Christ are called to a higher standard.  Believers in Jesus are called to stand out as “peculiar” and are instructed to live as a “stranger” within the world.

We only need to turn in our Bible to the words recorded in red (the words Jesus spoke) to see how Christians are called to live.  After Jesus went up on the mountain and then sat down to preach and teach the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus then began to explain how His disciples were to live within this world.

Jesus’ words are applicable to us still today, for we are surrounded by people, and because we encounter all kinds of personal relationships, over and over within Jesus’ sermon, we read:  “You have heard that. . .”

Laziness is easy but ‘working’ puzzles are difficult.  Maybe you just read that last statement, scratched your head, and thought:  ‘What?’  Truthfully, it’s quite easy to live as a LAZY CHRISTIAN, and also true is that the sight of hundreds of puzzle pieces covering the top of the table can cause a non-puzzle lover (a person like me) great anxiety.

Nevertheless, one Saturday afternoon, when visiting our daughter’s home, our three daughters, my sister and I, and some of the grandchildren found ourselves stepping into a thrift store.  We browsed the racks of clothing, and then moved to the back room where household goods, toys, books, puzzles, and odds and ends rested on shelves.  Truly, thrift stores, are exciting places to visit for those who have much are afforded a place to give their overabundance to those who do not have enough.  Also true is the fact that those who have need may purchase what they need at a reduced price.  The concept of a thrift store brings honor and dignity to both the giver and the receiver.  In that particular thrift store, the workers were ladies from the local church.

As we looked throughout the aisles of shelves and racks of clothing that sunny Saturday afternoon, I found myself drawn to the shelf of boxed puzzles.  Now, let me say that I am NEVER drawn to sit down at a table and ‘work’ a puzzle, but I am intrigued by the photographs that become the puzzles.  Thus, I enjoy looking at the photographs found on the front of the boxes, while my younger sister is drawn to the puzzle pieces located inside the box.

I found a few boxes covered with beautiful photography.

But when my sister stepped over to look, she found puzzles she wished to ‘work.’

That day, we both purchased boxed puzzles:  my purchase was a beautiful farm scene and a red barn and her purchase was one of a mountain peak covered with snow.  My puzzle was one of 250 pieces and her puzzle was one of 500 or 1,000 pieces.  That evening, the group of us surrounded the kitchen table to put together the 250-piece puzzle that I had purchased for my husband (one who is also a puzzle lover).

Maybe I should pause and say, “they did” because I may have contributed the effort to place together less than twenty puzzle pieces while the remaining puzzle workers ‘worked’ the remaining 230 puzzle pieces.  We sat and stood around my daughter’s table ‘working’ the puzzle so that the image reflected the photograph on the front of the puzzle box.

• Is that not what Jesus requires of His disciples—that we reflect His image in the world?
• Is that not what Jesus taught that day when he sat down to teach?
• Is that not also the exact opposite of a lazy follower of Christ or of a person who is pretending to be a Christ-follower?

The Reverend Billy Graham wrote:

“The sin of doing nothing—the sin of omission—is just as dangerous as any sin of action—of commission.  You don’t have to do anything to be lost; just do nothing.  Just be slothful about your soul.  Tragically, thousands of us Christians are slothful when it comes to prayer, worship, reading the Bible, witnessing for Christ, helping neighbors in need, or giving to charity.” (178)

The Puzzle Pieces of the Christian’s Heart—

• We are called to “Love our neighbors” & to “pray for our enemies.”
• We are commanded to “Quietly give to those who have need” & to “proclaim the Gospel.”
• We are instructed to “work together as the body of Christ,” to be like puzzle pieces creating a beautiful image of Jesus Christ in this sinful world.

May we enjoy our ‘work,’ and May we be willing to spread out our puzzle pieces on the table and QUIETLY SPREAD THE LOVE JESUS HAS CALLED US TO.