Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The classic example here is the new kid in school. I grew up in one town, never moved and never had to figure out how to fit in to a new school. I didn’t know how that felt. When I began going to church I found out and I didn’t much care for the experience. I wanted to fit in but I didn’t know how.

Fitting in at a new church should not be the same as in a school setting by trying to pick and choose who you like. You are called to love everyone and that is no easy matter. Here within a church body where you fit in is determined by the body itself. All you have to do is be real, let them get to know the real you and over time they will discover what God is doing in you that meets the needs of the body.

Within any church body there will be those with spiritual discernment and they will tell you what they see in you. You might not see it yourself if you have not yet developed spiritual discernment. They will help you identify your gifts, talents and find a place for you to grow into that place where you are “fitly joined”. You will be surrounded by those who recognized your place in the puzzle and call you to “sit here”.

My gifts were not developed apart from the body of Christ but rather within the body. The key to fitting in is being real and accepting. As you grow in Christ they will recognize those changes even before you do, if you are being real.

Exodus 21:9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

Earlier I had said that God would not ask anything of you that He would not perform Himself. Here in the Old Testament is a prescribed treatment for those who He has betrothed to His Son Jesus Christ. The issues of adoption into the family of God is centered on this prescribed treatment. Once the hostilities have ended, we are no long entreated as the enemy but as daughters.

Can we see in this prescribed treatment how God entreats us now that our relationship has changed? As a man I had a hard time seeing how this applied to our relationship because I wanted to maintain my fleshly understanding of manhood and all that my earthly father had taught me. I missed the deeper meaning of this prescribed treatment.

The daughter earns nothing, everything is given to her. She is loved without expectation. She is nurtured and protected because she is innocent and pure in the eyes of the father. She has no rights to an inheritance which comes solely by means of her husband.

We as the bride of Christ, His betrothed, are given gifts we did not earn. We are loved with a perfect love not because of what we have done or will do, but because of who He is in quality and personality. We are nurtured and protected even if we do not see the protective covering. Our innocence and purity is in His eyes because we are in Christ and not because of our past. Everything in heaven and earth has been given over to the Son because of His faithfulness to do the will of the Father and became the sacrifice that made this all possible.

I never saw this until I learned to look at things through God’s eyes.