I love the song Closer To The Heart by Rush. Here it is if you have not heard it and the lyrics follow:
Closer To The Heart
"And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart
The blacksmith and the artist
Reflect it in their art
Forge their creativity
Closer to the heart
Philosophers and ploughmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the heart
You can be the captain
I will draw the chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the heart"
As I was listening to the song, the words, I found the theme of people from different backgrounds with different abilities all being called to contribute the talents that they have been given to something bigger than themselves. The following from 1 Corinthians 12 then came to mind:
"4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ..." "27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it."
Everyone has a part to play. No one is expendable. Philosophers or plowmen, blacksmiths or artists, captains or navigators, fishermen or tax collectors... as followers of Jesus we are called to tell others about Him, His love, His redemption, His grace, His compassion. We are His body, and as we take seriously our faith, our hope, our love for Jesus, we will begin...
Molding a new reality
Forging our creativity
Sewing a new mentality
Sailing into destiny...
closer to His heart.
