Now, what does "he went up" mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth. So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence. It was he who "gave gifts to mankind"; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature. Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful men, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent. Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

Ephesians 4:9-16

As followers of Christ, we are called to imitate Him. That means that our behavior towards others and our reactions to circumstances beyond our control should be more like Christ. We are all given certain gifts, and those should be used for God's glory. All of us are different, as Christians. We should never stifle the creative spirit that marks us as God's children. Allow for differences. God did when He made us. God has made everyone unique and gifted them to fulfill His purposes.

As Christians, we all have one employer -

but we all have different jobs. Just do yours.

Our Daily Bread - June 22, 2003