There was a TV show a few years ago called ‘Kyle XY’. If you have NetFlix, you can still watch it there- we just watched the entire series recently. It featured a main character that did not have one! Hold the thought on bellybuttons for a minute while I change directions.
What kind of people do you respect? Throughout our lives, we have folks that we respect and some that we don’t. I’m not talking about the obvious- like ‘heroes’ vs ‘terrorists’, I hope we would find little respect for Adolf Hitler and much respect for Mother Teresa.
What kind of people naturally attract our attention and earn our respect? For me, I find that one type that gets my attention are those people of faith that have become role models in the ‘secular’ world. I mentioned Mother Teresa, I could even add Billy Graham, Rick Warren, John Maxwell, Saint Francis, Pope Francis, CS Lewis, Tim Tebow and more. When someone can be a public figure without compromising their faith, they earn my respect. Athletes, Artists, Musicians, Spiritual leaders…all different walks of life.
The opposite is also true- people of faith that have failed to exemplify real Christian values from their public position- Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, even Pat Robertson etc… the warning from Jesus is severe towards those that cause his little ones to stumble.
The point is, we gravitate towards people that we respect, and shy away from people that we do not. We honor people according to our likes and dislikes. I believe that God has called us to something entirely different! The Apostle Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians:
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ…14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many…17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body….But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it….
Ok, so now my Bellybutton point is now pretty obvious. If you’re at all in to social media- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.. its all about the ‘likes’. Things that catch our attention, things we find interesting, beautiful, unique, funny, we click the ‘like’ button.
The analogy with the body is perfect- we are all a unique part of one Body. Each one worthy of our ‘like’ response. If God has made you a Toe, you have the same honor from God as the Bellybutton! If you find yourself not in harmony with the hand or the nose. It’s on you to get yourself aligned with the rest of the body and maintain unity! If the right foot and the left foot are not working together for the common good, the body is going nowhere!
A final point about Kyle- the guy with no belly button- he was not born! He was the result of a lab cloning experiment. Our belly button is proof of our humanness! A remnant of our former life inside the womb! Some celebrate their bellybutton by decorating it with a ring. If God has called you to be a belly button, well, I respect that! Celebrate whatever God has called you to be and honor the remaining parts of Christ’s body!
