Be And Agree, Pt. I

On some level we're all connected and interdependent, which is why I've been teaching and talking so much lately about the power of AGREEMENT...remember Paul said that the eye cannot say to the hand 'I don't need you'...he used the metaphor of the operation of the human body to explain the mystery of the Body of Christ (where two are more are gathered together in My name), and the truth that we all totally need each other for survival and creativity...that being said, I want to underscore the fact that, even though eye indeed needs the hand, the eye is still an eye, and the hand is still a hand...their agreement with one another doesn't morph them into the same thing (same DNA/different function)...

An important part of understanding the miracle of agreement and how to walk in it is learning and accepting the fact that your individuality or uniqueness will not be compromised in the process...that's why Paul went on to say, "you are the Body of Christ and MEMBERS IN PARTICULAR"...

You need to be connected, but you also need to be you...

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are — no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.” (Matthew 5:5 - The Message)

One of the greatest things about the Man, Jesus, in His earth-walk, was that there was absolutely no one else like Him ("Never a man spake like this Man")...Jesus reveled in His own uniqueness...that's one of the main reasons that He was always at odds with religion...religion discourages uniqueness in individuals, and fosters conformity...

Agreement is not conformity...

It certainly may include some compromise of ideas ("How can two walk together unless they agree?"), but never the compromise of the sense of self...there's a reason why Jesus chose such a diverse group of men to be His disciples...His choosing of them, just as the were (no background checks, no screening process, no trial period) was a celebration of their individual strengths (and weaknesses)...His only original instruction to them was "Follow Me"...

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
- e.e. cummings, 1955

Perhaps one reason that Paul grasped the concept of "members in particular" is that he, himself, was so very different from the other Apostles...they only knew the Christ through the pre-resurrection Jesus, the Son of Man...Paul only knew Jesus, the Man, through his post-resurrection revelation of the Christ...while the others went to Jerusalem, Paul went to Arabia, and eventually ended up writing the majority of the New Testament...

If you really follow his writings closely, you'll see Paul working through and learning to accept his own different-ness, while all the while giving us the greatest revelation of the Christ expressed through unity that we have...

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 - Today's New International Version)

Paul did say, "Follow me as I follow Christ", but he also said "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"...that's where the balance is...that's where the harmony is...

Maybe I should sum it up with three words: BE AND AGREE!

Be in agreement, but be yourself...

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
- Oscar Wilde

In other words...U B U!

To be continued...