I like puzzles. I wouldn’t say I’m an avid puzzler, nor even a terribly effective puzzler, but I enjoy a casual puzzle here and there, especially at the Christmas season. There’s something about Christmas that makes me want to do a puzzle or three.
What makes a puzzle tricky is perspective. A single piece only has a fraction of the whole picture. Looking at the piece by itself doesn’t give an accurate representation of the picture, but when you find its place, put it in context, it adds a piece to the picture, a picture that would be incomplete without that little piece.
No puzzle pieces are unnecessary. (Unless you are doing the clear jigsaw puzzles with pieces that don’t fit in the picture. But I digress.) You can’t act like you don’t need some of the pieces. They all work together to paint a better picture of the full image.
It reminds me of the verse in 1 Corinthians: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” (1 Cor. 12:21) One part of the body, one piece of the puzzle, cannot tell the other it isn’t needed, so why do we think the same of the Body of Christ? We as Christians are the puzzle pieces. None of us on our own reveal the full picture of Christ. We are all flawed, out-of-context pieces without the rest of the puzzle. We need the Church. Not just our church, but the full Body of Christ, the Christians who serve Him everywhere, the people who die for their faith, the people who have given everything to serve Him. If we try to reflect God alone, we distort who God truly is.
So be a puzzle piece. Find your place in the picture. Show others who God is, through your actions, your words, your way of living. Interact with others. Work with them to create a better picture.
Be a puzzle piece.
