Here’s an idea I came across while reading an article written by Shawn McEvoy, the Managing Editor of Crosswalk.com.
Taking an arrow, I point out the feathers and ask why the feathers are important. Without the feathers, it’s just a pointed stick, and doesn’t fly too well. Now I point out the one unique feather and ask if anybody has ever felt that way – different from those around you.
Making reference to any number of “Body of Christ” of “wonderfully made” verses, I point out that we are all, in fact, made differently from the people around us. We each have unique things about our personalities.
Then I “load” the arrow into the bow the WRONG way, with the unique feather pointing in. “If I pull back and let go, what will happen?” (When you are holding it up for everybody to see, it’s not too hard to realize that with the unique feather pointing in, the arrow will hit the bow when the bowstring is released; the result is that the arrow will not fly too well and will end up being messed up).
But, with our uniqueness on display, facing outward, it’s a completely different story. Shawn McEvoy says, “As Christians, too often we cover up what’s different about ourselves, and we wind up missing the mark, or sinning. When our unique side faces outward for the world to see on the other hand, we fly straight and true, exploding towards the target in a glorious burst of color.“
That’s real good!!