Most of the church has been taught the importance of “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). But the focus and emphasis has been on the works part of that statement. Many church leaders expect (and sometimes demand) that to be a good member means taking responsibility in the church – Sunday School teacher, nursery worker, helping with the maintenance of the building and grounds, and many more good things that do need to be done. I think the problem lies in the fact that there is guilt placed on people if they don’t find some place to serve, even if that is not their area of gifting or passion.

Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is the thing that should motivate us to keep moving forward, to the place of obedience. In other words, faith is like the gas you put in the tank of a car to empower it to reach your desired destination. Our goal or destination is to walk in complete obedience to the will of God. He has placed within each one of us desires as well as gifts and talents to fulfill the very destiny He created us for. There is nothing that gives me greater pleasure than to know I am doing the will of God and delighting His heart. He has plans for each one of us that were designed for us before we were born. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I separated you to be a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

“When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” (Psalm 139:15-16)

How amazing is that! Each one of us is so unique that we can be identified by several natural markers. No other human has this identical marker. The most well-known is our finger prints. Identical twins can be uniquely identified even though they “look” exactly alike. Every human’s genome is unique in its own way. Your genes provide a unique blueprint that is unlike anyone else’s. Although 99.9% of our DNA is the same, making us different from other species, we are all Homo sapiens. It is the 0.1% that makes each of us different. The human genome is made up of 3 billion base pairs – which means that 0.1% is equal to 3 million base pairs that can vary from individual to individual.

There has always been pressure to conform to someone else’s set of ideals or expectations. Perhaps we should emphasize the uniqueness of an individual to try to help them express that uniqueness in the way that God intended. Some of this pressure to conform is cultural and geographical, some is based on socio-economic levels, and some on other factors that tend to influence conformity rather than uniqueness and individuality.

Within the church culture this is most definitely a factor. Doctrines, denominations and even individual congregations have placed upon people the expectations to conform to their set of guidelines. I don’t want to use specific illustrations because I would probably offend someone (unintentionally) but just stop and think about your own fellowship or church. Someone dressing differently could make them (or the congregation) feel uncomfortable. Certainly if someone came in to a church and began to behave in a way that was not acceptable to those who regularly attend, especially the leadership, it is likely they would face some sort of consequence (correction, rebuke, expulsion, shunning, etc.)

What just came to mind was the recent movie Jesus Revolution. It took place originally in California in the 1970’s when a bunch of “hippies” were welcomed into a church by the pastor. The other elders or deacons or leaders were more concerned about these young people soiling their carpet with their dirty bare feet than they were with the souls of these new converts and soon to be converts. Do we demonstrate similar characteristics in our fellowship or church?

One of my dreams is that we would learn to celebrate one another’s strengths and gifts while covering each other’s weaknesses and sins (“Love covers a multitude of sins” I Peter 4:8 – “Above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.”) It is the uniqueness or diversity among us that makes us a “many membered body” (See 1 Corinthians 12:12-31). We need all of us functioning in our unique gift to be a fully functioning body. I believe that is why we see so few congregations functioning in the fullest expression God intended. A few people in each church have to do everything. In many of our current churches there is no training for people who are uncertain of their role of how to function in a local church. They are allowed to be “pew warmers” and therefore the rest of the congregation never benefits from what they were designed to do by their Creator God. Some are put into a position of responsibility that is really not maximizing their own personal gift mix so they may feel frustrated or unfulfilled. God created us to feel great satisfaction when we are walking out our faith in obedience to His design for our personal life.

We need to take concepts like “faith” and bring them into our everyday lives. Faith has substance and the outworking of true faith is highlighted in Hebrews 11. I have recently written on this so will only state that we have many heroes of faith that are highlighted in that chapter that simply walked out their faith with obedience to what they believed the Lord was directing them to do. That is my challenge for each of us today. What has the Lord placed upon your heart? What dreams do you have? Trust the Lord to empower you to walk those ideas and dreams out so that you can bless humanity! I have a feeling that “Hall of Fame” has a lot more people in it than those listed in Hebrews 11!