Assemble! // Proverbs 27:17

Are you a fan of the Marvel superheroes? I am. What’s known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s development into the Avengers franchise essentially started with the first “Iron Man” movie. I enjoyed it but love seeing how it’s developed over the years into an entire catalogue of stories that portray defeat into victory, betrayal into reconciliation, and diversity into unity. As great as the Iron Man stories are, the expansion to the team adds so much depth and development appealing to fans of multiple genres and spanning generations.

I think this serves as a nice metaphor for how we are to live together. The Bible teaches that we need each other for God’s ongoing mission. Today’s verse is one of my favorites as it pertains to the mission of building a physical representation of Christ’s Body — the Church — to deploy into the world, confronting and avenging the advance of evil. We grow sharper as we acknowledge the reality of doing life together involves finding God’s victory over our own defeats; how the sting of betrayal of God and/or others can forge the beauty of reconciliation; and acknowledging how much stronger we are when we bring our individual gifts and abilities together to benefit the whole. After all, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Are you making yourself available to God’s Body, the Church, to be strengthened and help strengthen others? Will you allow your personal experiences to align with God’s salvation story and proclaim how He is King of the universe? Will you assemble with others to confront and avenge the work of evil in the world? The world needs a team of spiritually gifted people committed to serving together to make God known and vanquish the enemy. Will you join God’s team?