It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. Ephesians 2:10 (LB)

 "You may be the only picture of Jesus someone will ever see." This commonly heard statement is true, and the work of the Holy Spirit within us is to draw that picture of Jesus out of us until people see it face-to-face.

The problem occurs when we begin to insist that everyone must look exactly the same, that Jesus-in-you should look exactly like Jesus-in-me.

God loves variety and created each of us with different shapes, interests, and personalities, yet, just as all humans have foundational features, such as a common blood system, we all reflect the same Creator.

In Jesus, we share a common blood system - the cleansing, renewing blood of Christ - but the Jesus-in-me may look different than the Jesus-in-you.

To see it another way, we are like stained glass, and our different personalities reflect God's light in a variety of colors and patterns. He shaped us so there would be no duplication, so none of us would have the exact same mix as another, making us each unique.

 Each of us is a unique, one-of-a-kind, never to be repeated expression of Christ. Steve Pettit says, "There is a sacramental nature to our particular personalities and, within the family, the God-given freedom to be who we were created to be."

With that also comes the God-given responsibility of love to look out for one another, to know and be known, to love and be loved, and to encourage each other to reach our fullest expressions of Christ-in-us.

Our objective-in-Jesus is to help each other become the best picture of Jesus we can be.

(Jon Walker is the author of the book "Costly Grace."  This article is from connect@newsletter.purposedriven.com by Rick Warren.)