This one has had me stumped for a bit. Is the Christian life about my personal relationship with God or is it about building up the Body? Both, of course, but how does that work exactly? Is it a chicken-and-the-egg kind of thing? Do I pursue both at once and with equal fervor? Or do I wait for a measure of certainty and strength in my own walk before I go about trying to build up others? These are not really rhetorical questions.
Oswald asks a question to which the right answer seems obvious: "Am I building up the Body of Christ or am I looking for my own personal development only?" But what about his next statement: "The essential thing is my personal relationship to Jesus Christ -- 'that I may know Him.'" Surely I cannot build anyone else up if my own foundation is shaky. Or can I?
To realize Jesus Christ -- not merely what he has done for me. I wish I could ask Oswald to explain more fully.
This for me is both sides of the same coin. In the gospal Jesus asked the decipals to serve the larger community while they where still learning from him. That service was a part of following Christ. In my personal life my relationship with God has been strengthened the most while in service to building the body. It is amazing how God teaches through the very people you think you are helping.
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