Bibimbop! Don't Stop! Bibimbop!

We just love eating with our friends! We recently had a meal with a young family who is very special to us.  The wife is Korean, and she is a wonderful cook!  Our favorite things that she makes are her spring rolls and her bibimbop.  So...two nights ago, we had the great pleasure of having just that.  They prepared food for us in their home, and three families got together for a wonderful evening.  I imagine that I probably need to explain bibimbop for the very Americans among us.... Bibimbop starts with a layer of rice.  Onto that, we place a selection of sauteed vegetables, including zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, spinach, young green soybean shoots, young green leaves that come from pea plants or other plants such as sesame, onions, etc.  The possibilities in veggie are endless!  A layer of bulgoki, or Korean BBQ, comes next followed by a fried egg.  Onto all of this, we put a beef stock and red pepper paste and then drizzle with sesame oil.  It sounds insane, but the flavor is so wonderful!  If you know me, you know that I very rarely mix food - or even allow food to touch - but this is my exception!  I go to town, chopping up the egg, mixing all of the ingredients together.  It just makes me happy.  The blending of spice, soy, sesame...it can't be matched.  No singular flavor overtakes the mouth, they all work together to create the flavor of bibimbop.

I like to think of the many nations that make up the Body of Christ as being similar to my bowl of bibimbop.  We each have our own unique flavors, if you will.  We each have definite tastes in worship, evangelism, outreach, but we can all come together to make one unique flavor in the presence of God.  Ephesians 4:4-5 tells us that "there is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."  There is no singular people group whose flavor takes dominance on God's palette.  He savors the blend of each of us in our uniqueness, one with the other, to enjoy the sweetness of our collective praise.  The only stipulation?  That we do, in fact, praise Him with our lives.

I rather like the idea of being an ingredient in a feast.  There's much less responsibility to be the feast!  We each have a definite and important role to play in God's Kingdom, but not one of these roles stands alone in completing the task of the Kingdom. We work together as one Body, in one Spirit.  If we each fulfill our purpose, God's glory will be revealed.  If one portion of us refuses to take part, the entire flavor suffers.... if my bibimbop didn't have the egg, I wouldn't like it so much.  If the BBQ were missing, I might not even want to eat it.  If there were no sesame oil, it would just be bland.  However, altogether, the flavor is complete. 

I encourage you to find your role in your local Body.  Find the place where you can fit in and take part.  God is so very pleased when we participate in the collective purposes that He has laid out for our communities, our nations, our world.