Daily Bread Devotional April 24

When was the last time you marveled at the kaleidoscope of talents and quirks within your church community? Our latest episode takes a heartfelt look at the splendor of diversity in the body of Christ, inspired by the "United Diversity in Christ" devotional from Our Daily Bread and enriched by insights from Daniel Bowman Jr.'s essay on navigating church life as an autistic believer. As we unfold stories of friends who find joy in the smallest things, fervently support through prayer, and lighten the room with their humor, we celebrate how every individual's distinctiveness is not just valuable, but vital to the vibrancy of our spiritual family.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Good afternoon, ginger Adventures. It is time for another Our Daily Bread devotional with your host, ginger. The original devotional can be found at odborg. Odb stands for Our Daily Bread. This is April 24th's devotional, titled United Diversity in Christ, and the verse that we are focusing on is 1 Corinthians 12, 18. God has placed the parts in the body just as he wanted them to be.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Now, the author in this particular devotional talks about a professor named Daniel Bowman Jr who is autistic and he had written an essay called Service on the Spectrum, where he shared about how to serve his church as an autistic person, and it's very interesting to me how he explains things when autistic people are doing different things, the different pieces to their day, the different ways they have to do things, they have to put forth extra effort on different things that we don't think about. He talks about how their brain works, how different paths have to be forged. He talks about how they struggle with sensory issues. He talks about how they struggle with sensory issues, how they have to have routines, how they perceive things differently, and so they will not see the world the way you and I do. They will not operate in the world the way that you and I do, but they still want to go out and and live life to the fullest, like you and I do, and they, you, you know when in the world, when we have different things that we're doing or happening, we want to consider what things they're going to need in order to enjoy that situation, that thing, that event, like we do. And so the author is tying this information to Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, talking about diversity.

Speaker 1: 2:43

In verses 4-6, paul describes God uniquely gifting each of his people for the common good, and he talks about members of the church being parts of the body. So everyone has a specific function, but they don't have the same function because we wouldn't want to have all hands, we wouldn't want to have all feet. We need to have different parts of the body and have them all work together for the good of God. So each different church member has been gifted with a different, unique talent. They operate, you know, a unique way. So someone that has autism has special gifts, has special talents, and they operate in a much needed way. And someone who does not have autism has different gifts and different talents, yet also operate in a much needed way, and then they work together to complete the project that is at hand. So in this way, each person can find flourishing and wholeness and be secured in their valued place in Christ's body, which is Corinthians 12, verse 26.

Speaker 1: 3:55

I will admit that reading this passage was a little bit difficult for me because it has a lot of vocabulary words in there pertaining to the autism and, like the way it was laid out, was a little bit confusing for me. So hopefully my summary isn't confusing. I love the fact that they do shine a light on autistic people and share the difficulties that they have to go through, because we're not always aware of the difficulties that autistic people have to go through and how something that's simple for us may be much harder for them. I like being able to have that different perspective, being able to take a second to walk in their shoes, because it kind of opens my eyes to things that I take for granted, and I love the fact that the author then tied it into that we're all parts of the body of Christ and we all work together for a united purpose. I love that.

Speaker 1: 4:57

So the questions how have you been blessed by others' unique gifts? How can churches encourage diverse ways to serve? I have been blessed by really good friends that have unique gifts. My one friend at school she has this gift to find joy in everything. It is amazing to me. You can hear her laughter all the time in our school building and everyone's drawn to it. We're all drawn to it. It's magnetic. She is absolutely one of the most fantastic people you will ever meet and I'm positive I've said that in one of my other podcasts. I just love her. Her unique gift is just this ability to find joy in everything. She can make you smile every time you see her. It helps me find joy in things that I may not always find joy in. Like it encourages me to look for joy and happiness in things I may not otherwise find joy. So I really love that about her.

Speaker 1: 6:09

My other friend that I talk to you guys about a lot my tech guy friend, an analyst friend. I mean, he is kind of a tech guy. He used to be a tech guy. Anyways, he gives me the unique gift of being a prayer warrior. I've never in my life met someone that will stop at the drop of a hat and pray like he does. It's amazing to me. He will literally be in the middle of doing something and he will stop and he will pray without hesitation. He is the most amazing prayer warrior that I've ever met. He has really encouraged me in my Christian walk. He has shown me where I was lacking in my prayer life. He has shown me what it really means to live your faith out loud. That, to me, is a very unique gift that he has given me.

Speaker 1: 7:01

He also has a really unique gift with handling other people's anxiety. He himself gets anxiety and when he does, then his unique gift for handling anxiety gets put in a box and put away. And so I'm trying to learn how to give back his gift for handling anxiety to him and I'm not that good at it yet, y'all. But he really has a true talent when he is not anxious himself. He has this magical ability to be so calm and sound, so gentle and soft, and just instantly makes you feel like you are safe and that everything's going to be okay. To me, this is an amazing, unique gift to have, because I am a high anxiety person and to have this gift is extremely amazing to someone like me, to someone with my personality. So that is a unique gift that he has.

Speaker 1: 8:07

My daughter has the unique gift of a very fascinating sense of humor. Let me put it that way she can make me laugh so hard at things that really wouldn't be funny at all. But she can take it and she can turn it and just have you in fits of laughter, and I love that about her. I feel that is a very unique gift that she has. She can make people feel comfortable and at ease because of the way that she's able to interact and talk with people, and that is a very unique gift.

Speaker 1: 8:46

The second question how can churches encourage diverse ways to serve? I believe that a church needs to look at all of its members and really get to know them, just like a teacher does with her classroom, just like a teacher does with her classroom. Form that bond with their church members, know what their strengths are, know what their weaknesses are, and then have them working together on projects where all those strengths are highlighted and made use of and all those weaknesses are built up by those around them. So if this is your weakness and it's someone else's strength, working together helps build up that weakness. I believe that's how the church can encourage diverse ways to serve is by getting to know their church members, knowing what their strengths are and then making use of that in the different activities that they're doing, whether it's inside the church or whether it's just within the community. Again, I look at it much like a teacher in her classroom, where she's trying to encourage her students to work together, no matter what talents they may or may not have, no matter what talents they may or may not have.

Speaker 1: 10:04

And that's all for this devotional. If you have any questions, comments, prayer requests, I would absolutely love to hear from you. You can email me at adventuresofjinger at gmailcom. You can also reach me at facebookcom slash adventuresofjinger, or on Twitter at Jinger Adventure, and also on YouTube at youtubecom slash at adventuresofjinger. Also, if you would like to subscribe to my podcast, you can go to adventuresofjingerbuzzsproutcom and you can hit the subscribe button and for only $3 a month you'll be able to support my podcast. See you on the wild side.