You Complete Me

I am not sure where the expression “You complete me” originates. It was certainly popularized by the movie, “Jerry Maguire,” where Tom Cruise’s character declares it to Renée Zellweger. It is the foolish notion that we can be “whole” if we find our “other half,” our “soul mate”—that person who fills our longings. Only God can do that. In fact, He who began His good work within you, promises to complete it (Phil. 1:6).

 
That's not to say, however, that God doesn't use people in the process. Through personal interactions (that seem to bring out the worst in us), we are made painfully aware of the work God must do in us to fit us together in faith and knowledge until we measure up to the standard of perfection, Christ. (Eph. 4:13).
 
So as God completes us individually, He fits us into the ‘whole’ until it is perfectly fit for Christ (Eph. 4:16; 5:27; Col. 2:10). So then it is not so terribly wrong to say to one another, “you complete me.”

24-Hour Fitness

“24-Hour Fitness” is the name of a chain of fitness clubs. It is also a ‘fitting’ description of the Holy Spirit’s work in us. Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is ‘fit’ for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).  The Holy Spirit makes us ‘fit’ by stretching us, like leather, like new wineskins” (Matt. 9:17).

Speaking of "fit," having lost 25 pounds since last Fall, I have few clothes that do. And since we were going to attend my niece’s wedding, I had to go shopping for something to ‘fit’ me, but would also would be ‘fit’ for a wedding. Now speaking analogously, this last year has been a real stretch for me.  But hopefully, it has made me more ‘fit’ for God’s work, and better ‘fitted’ for the Spirit's infilling.

Paul practiced 24-hour fitness, always straining and stretching toward what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13). He also acknowledged that fitting and stretching, though painful, was necessary (Heb. 12:11) in order that someday we all will be properly 'fit' together in Christ (Eph. 4:16).

If you look at Jesus long enough…

When we find ourselves in confusing circumstances, life seems like a hard puzzle where the pieces don’t fit together—and we convince ourselves the manufacturer must have made a mistake! When you are trying to make sense out of the puzzle called ‘your life,” wouldn’t it be great if you could just look at the picture on the box it came in? You can.

The “picture” we are to study is Christ; the “box” is the Bible. We must study Christ in the pages of the Bible in order to be “conformed to the image of Christ” (Rom. 8:29). In fact, if you don’t look long and hard at Jesus, you will never see how things fit together.

Paul promises that when you fix your eyes on Jesus (Heb 12:2), two things happen. First, God will cause all things [pieces] to work [fit] together for good” (Rom 8:28).  Second, Paul says the more we look at Jesus, the more we become like him and will be "changed into His glorious image” (2 Cor. 3:18). Do you want to solve the puzzle? Do you want to see what and who you are?  Do you want to see how it all fits together?  Keep studying the box.  Keep looking at the Picture. 

Do We Look Like a Pile of Dry Bones?

Last month, I preached a sermon on Ezekiel 37—the passage where a huge pile of dry bones comes to life (if you’re not familiar with it, you must read it). Through the prophet, God breathes into the bones, quickening them to life—a picture of the energizing power of the Holy Spirit flowing from limb to limb, resulting in a huge army of God: the Church.

This brings to mind Paul’s description of the Body of Christ: “From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph. 4:16, NIV). Paul says we are a body, a living organism, made up of individual bones, sinews, joints.

Sometimes it’s hard to be ‘fitted’ to someone else. We are quite sure it won’t work. But a proper fit will require each member, or bone, to be broken of his own rights and his own way to fit into God’s plan, or His way—otherwise we will look like a pile of dry bones. "Lord, please break me of my own way so that I can be properly fitted to those around me."

Are You Being Stretched!?

When I am feeling particularly stretched, I have to remind myself that I am a ‘wineskin.’ Jesus said you cannot put ‘new wine’ into an old ‘wineskin’—because as the wine ferments, it expands, and will rupture an old wineskin. Do you feel sometimes like you’re being stretched so thin you may explode?

Our English word ‘stretch’ is used in many idioms; I think you may find these helpful to remember when you are feeling over-extended. Do you ever feel like you are on an empty stretch of the highway or like you are on the last stretch of a race? Or conversely, maybe your circumstances are constraining you, and you feel like you are being squeezed into an airplane seat; being unable to stretch out is stretching your patience.

Then the word “stretcher” is also enlightening. Stretcher bars are used to tighten a canvas so the artist can draw or paint on it. Are we not God’s workmanship? Or a stretcher can be used to expand a leather shoe to make it fit better. Isn’t it God’s work to make us ‘fit’ for His purposes? Or a stretcher is used to transport sick people to a place where they can get healthy (think about that!).

Maybe you think I’m stretching a bit with these metaphors? So let me end with Paul’s use of the word. During his prison stretch, he wrote to the Philippians: “one thing I do: I forget what lies behind and I reach forward to what lies ahead…” (Philip. 3:14). The literal meaning of the word “reach” is “stretch.” Paul says “I am stretching forward.” Would it be a stretch for us to read into Paul’s words that stretching is normal, even necessary if we are to get what God wants us to have? Next time you start to picture yourself on one of those medieval stretcher racks, remember: you are a wineskin.