Missing pieces

You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything. Colossians 2:10 (The Message)

Years ago the church I attended sponsored an adopt a college student program. We adopted one, then two, then three. Some afternoons after church we’d have five or six college students come over for lunch and to relax and enjoy a touch of home. A favorite activity was putting puzzles together. It was so cool to hear them having a great time talking about their lives and laughing while assembling a puzzle. And when one was finished, it was as if they’d created a masterpiece. A contest, which evolved during the assembling a puzzle, was to be the one to find and place the last puzzle piece. One Sunday a young man, tired of never winning, skewed the odds in his favor by inconspicuously slipping a puzzle piece in his pocket and waiting until the rest of the puzzle was assembled. After the room was turned upside down looking for it he’d pull it out of his pocket. His actions killed the joy of seeing the picture completed.

On Sunday our Senior Pastor was talking about how we are the church of Jesus Christ, perhaps the only church a lot of people will ever see and if we don’t show Jesus to them through our words and actions, they may never experience His presence in their lives. I thought of that group of students putting that puzzle together like so many people today, trying to make sense out of everything happening around them; trying to figure out what the picture of their lives is supposed to look like, most of the time not knowing that something is missing.

And here I am, with that critical Christ piece in my pocket, perhaps causing others great difficulty in making sense of an important section of the puzzle. I’m going to try to make sure that the Christ piece of the puzzle stays on the table. Ultimately no matter how much fun we have figuring out this puzzle, and no matter how nice it looks, without Christ, there’s going to always be a Christ sized hole in the lives of those I come into contact.

Bless you brothers, live this day in peace, in His Word.