the missing piece

"Old sayings" become 'old' by virtue of the timeless truths they convey.  "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts", is one such 'old saying'.  A jigsaw puzzle perfectly represents the meaning of that saying.  Although each individual piece of a puzzle is unique in terms of its size, shape and color, yet, when those pieces are properly joined together, an image thus becomes visible which it is not otherwise possible to perceive.  The one 'missing piece', in the above image, obviously suggests a cat.  Yet, the larger picture--which can only be seen when all the other pieces are properly assembled--suggests another, far deeper meaning associated with the missing puzzle piece.  The cat is thus transformed into something else, as it now becomes a symbol representing something other than itself, namely: it represents a little girl's heartfelt longing for companionship of a certain kind.  That single piece of the puzzle is such an integral and important part of the larger story.  But that story, as such, cannot be 'told', as it were, by any one piece alone (not even by the 'cat' piece, as important as it is),  but only by all the pieces working together.

So is the 'story' of Christ and the Church.

Every genuine Christian knows that the Church--no, not the apostate 'Church', but the true Church, the real Body of Christ--is in desperate need of 'something', at this present time.  But what is that 'something'?  Is it Revival?  Is it a new revelation, one uniquely suited to this particular generation?  Is it a revolution in civil government, under which we necessarily must live?  Is it something which we ourselves are capable to do, or is it something which only God can perform for us?  Can the need be supplied, or can the problem be solved, if we do not even understand what that need or problem is?  How can a physician prescribe any treatment for what he has not first diagnosed?

Those are questions I have long wrestled with, and I have discovered some valid answers to those questions, in the Word of God.  To begin with, we must start at, well, the beginning.  In the second chapter of Genesis, not long (evidently) after God had finished His work of Creation and pronounced that everything He had made was "very good", God then made this profound statement:

"It is not good that man should be alone."  (Genesis 2:18)

But didn't God know that before He made Adam?  Of course, He did.  Nevertheless, the reality of that eternal truth could not be manifested (demonstrated, exhibited) unless and until it actually became the experience of Adam as Man (not male, but human).  It is not good that any human being should be alone.  It is extremely important to consider that Adam was alone--not in a fallen, sinful, violent, brutal world, but in Paradise!  It is yet further extremely important to consider that Adam was alone--with God!  "Not good!" was the judgment of God Himself.

How then, do we suppose, is it good for Christian persons to remain so much separated one from another---and just when, as the Holy Ghost expressly warned, we are now face to face with that "time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time" (Daniel 12:1)? Does the Word of God not admonish us (warn or reprimand firmly) to gather ourselves together, as a community of like-minded disciples of Jesus Christ, and to exhort (strongly encourage) one another: "and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25)?

But instead of true Christians coming together and encouraging one another more frequently (and, by implication, with more purposeful intent), it instead appears that we are increasingly fragmented and scattered by a host of forces and factors which doubtless are attributable to demonic powers working to subvert and destroy individual Christians, if not the Christian Church entire (if that were possible).  It is probably the best known strategy of warfare: "Divide and Conquer".  It is a stratagem which even the lower animal kingdom understands; as evidenced by the manner in which many different kinds of predatory animals hunt their prey.

Significantly, those demonic forces are not merely--nor even preeminently--external to us, but they are internal, that is to say, they are spiritual in nature.  The devil mostly works against us...in our own minds, in his efforts to produce in us mis-understanding or ignorance or both.  Doesn't the Bible teach us that is the nature of spiritual warfare?

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ..." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

In two words, Christian community is what individual Christians are sorely lacking.  If earnest Christians would only understand that: 1) "it is not good" for Christians to remain largely isolated in this present evil world; and, 2) that "the whole is GREATER than the sum of its parts"; we, together, as the Body of Christ, could begin to experience those many benefits that are needful, and available to us, in God--but only when we are "willing and obedient" to do what God has already revealed to us in His Word.

Not any one Christian alone can by any means tell the 'story' of Christ's love for His Church and of the Church's love to Christ and to one another.  But the true meaning of God's redemption for humanity CAN ONLY BE TOLD BY THE BODY OF CHRIST IN COMMUNITY (living and loving together).

Come together, right now, UNDER Me, saith God.