Month: November 2023

Thankfulness for the Body of Christ

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV

My wife and I enjoy doing puzzles together, so I was delighted to find an almost new 1,000-piece puzzle with a Thomas Kincade painting on the box for a dollar at a yard sale. As soon as I got home, I dumped the puzzle out and eagerly began working to piece it together. Because of the complexity of the design, I didn’t at first realize, but eventually it became clear that, though my puzzle was almost new, it had been put into the wrong box! That puzzle reminds me of how in spite of God’s design, we sometimes struggle to find where we fit. In today’s verse the Apostle Paul tells us that together we are the Body of Christ and each of us is a part. Fortunately for us, God puts the correct picture on the box, (the Bible) and second, we are each intricately designed to be put into exact the position for which God designed. Paul gets very detailed about those parts, calling some of us eyes, some ears and others, hands and feet. Some of us who suffer from low self-esteem are encouraged by realizing that we too are a valuable part. However, we also need to remember that discovering our usefulness also means finding how our being connected to others gives us the opportunity to serve them. Trying to find how we fit in the church, without being thankful for people around us, is like our putting our puzzle together with the wrong picture on the box!

Though, people will usually take time to thank God for their blessings, why not go beyond just being thankful for how we have been blessed and take the time to give thanks for how God has blessed others, who He has connected to us. We just might be amazed at how being thankful, will clear our vision and help us to see them as part of the beautiful puzzle that God has designed called the Body of Christ!

"The beginning of men's rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart." 
Francis Shaeffer
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

Thoughts While Decorating the Tree

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments 
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 
1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV
As we put the tree back up again
A bit earlier this year
And bring out our decorations
Little treasures mixed with tears

First will be the manger scene 
Then comes an angel and a clown
They help me to remember friends
While I build our Christmas town 

And I wonder where that past has gone
While I work here all alone
Now, I think I would be kinder
If I had only known

That all that stuff I thought so dear
Along with youth would soon be gone
And only mercy, love and grace
Remain as we move on

Thoughts While Decorating the Tree
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2023 ©
All rights reserved

Mind – Motives and Ministry

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:5 NKJV

I hate dental exams and am not too crazy about routine checkups at my primary care doctor either. It isn’t that I don’t like or trust the medical professionals in my life. My problem is that I worry about what they will find and some of the probing they do can even be a bit painful. Those unsettling sessions remind me of how God works on my motives. Just like many of you, I usually start off into service of one kind or another with enthusiasm, and without a doubt, by God’s grace some good gets done. But after a while, I discover that God schedules a visit to His examination room. There He pokes around in uncomfortable areas of my motivations, shines a bright light on the dark corners of my methods and then sends me off with a referral to a specialist by the name of Dr. Holy Spirit. Then I notice that He has written a recommendation for surgery! It says that I need the removal of at least 10 lbs. of self-promotion and the insertion of a pacemaker to keep my weakened heart in proper rhythm. If you have been to God’s exam room lately and come away feeling discouraged, I want to remind you that along with the referral, He also gives us some prescriptions to fill at Heaven’s pharmacy. Here are three of the medications that He recommended for me that I have found have helped prepare me for the upcoming medical procedures. This first one you will need to take early in the morning, before your day begins: so that you can start things off in the right direction.

Then around midday, when things are getting a little busy, sit down for a moment and take this second one, along with a tall glass of God’s living water. You will find that as soon as it goes down, that it will refresh your heart and put your crazy day back into perspective.

Then in the evening, when you are feeling worn down from all that has been piled on you during the day and it seems like you don’t have anything left to give, try a double dose of this, just before you lie down for the night. This one always gives me peace and rest, because it comes from the one who loves us the most and who is working every detail of our life out for good!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 
2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV