The King and the Fireman

Did y’all enjoy being read to as a child? I was the annoying kid who worried the absolute tar out of my parents (or anybody else who would stand still and listen) to read me a story. Any adult I found sitting down was fair game. When my mother would give a haircut to a friend (Mama was a hairdresser) and the friend was under the hairdryer, I trotted over with a stack of books. I have been told I even made book requests to my mother when she was *ahem* sitting in the bathroom…otherwise occupied. I’m guessing it didn’t look like she was too busy to read.

There were some specific stories that I liked more than others and I wanted to hear those repeatedly. When Daddy would read to me before bed he would occasionally attempt to skip paragraphs or pages, but I knew the stories too well for that. One favorite story was from a Sesame Street collection I had. It was called “The King and the Fireman.” Just because I know y’all are DYING to hear it, you can go here and find a YouTube telling of the story, but the main idea is that the King learns a lesson about how the individual talents of each person (the unique interests and talents that God has given us) are IMPORTANT to the kingdom (or for our purposes, the body of Christ). He learns that the differences are what makes it all work.

Lately the subject of “unity in the body of Christ” seems to have come up more than once for me in my reading. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about the idea that “UNITY” does NOT mean “SAMENESS.” That seems to be a misconception that many people have regarding unity. 

The Word says in 1 Corinthians (12:12-27) that one part of the body is not more important than the other parts. Let’s stop tearing each other down just because they don’t do things like we think they should be done. Let’s give each other some grace. Have you ever worked at a job, or been at a place where you had a team and you all functioned, as the saying goes, like a well-oiled machine? A team where everybody knew their part well, and did it, but they also picked up the slack if something happened and somebody needed help?

That’s the way the body of Christ should be. Teamwork. Interdependency strengthens the church. Everybody does their part to make the whole team effective. That isn’t to say that there won’t be some overlap between us, and it also doesn’t mean there won’t be times where we may have to pitch in and do something that is completely out of our wheelhouse or comfort zone in order to benefit the whole. But if we could see ourselves as a TEAM, as a UNIT, as a WHOLE that has lots of wonderful individual important working parts, we would be so much more efficient in getting out the gospel and running the race that the Lord has set before us.

Ephesians 4:4-7 says we have unique gifts! So, respect and appreciate the folks around you who are working hard. And TELL them how well they are doing, encourage them! Don’t sit back and wait to be entertained. Pitch in! Find your talent/talents (if you haven’t already,) and go down to your church and as my Papaw would say, “Make ‘em a good hand.” We are in this together, y’all!

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