Reflecting on Romans 12:3-8, verses 4-6 kept jumping out at me. “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.” So in the one body of Christ, we are different parts and have different roles. We easily recognize that we have different personalities and different life experiences, but God has even given us different gifts (verses 6-8 list some of these).
I’ve
always loved how another 12th chapter of the Bible describes this
same concept. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-30,
Paul writes about the body and how important it is for each part to perform its
duties and to respect the other parts.
You can’t help but laugh when he writes about an ear wishing it had
better duties like the eye – or a foot wishing it had a higher position like
the hand. You can’t help but shake your
head at the thought of a head saying to a foot, “I don’t need you.” Yet aren’t there times we wish we were gifted
differently – or had a position of higher honor? Aren’t there times we feel like telling some “stinky
feet” brothers and sisters, “I don’t need you.”
Maybe that’s only me. But God is
explicit, there should be no division in the body, and the body parts should
have equal concern for each other (1 Corinthians 12:25).
I can’t
help but liken this to a worship team.
Surprising, I know. So there is
one worship team, but many positions – singers, instrumentalists, production
members. If the light person refused to
do his or her job because they couldn’t sing a solo, then we’d all be in the
dark. If the band told the sound person,
“We don’t need you” – then it would be all a capella all the time. I don’t even want to imagine singing
congregationally without the video person and the lyrics on the screen! So every member on the worship team is
vital. Each person needs to step up and
play their part. Every team member must
respect the other members. Otherwise the
finished product is much diminished from all God intends it to be.
So if
you don’t know your gifting, ask God to help you identify it. Then embrace it. And give your respect to those gifted
differently – even the stinky feet! After all, how far could we go without our
feet? God give us strength to be your
one unified body!
- Jeremi
Jeremi, good post. I especially would like to comment on your statement “Each person needs to step up and play their part”.
ReplyDeleteIn my devotional today it talked about “Hero Worship” and how “A hero is commonly thought of as someone who performs a brave or dangerous act to save or protect someone’s life”, that “If a hero is a servant who acts to save other’s lives, then the greatest hero of all is Jesus Christ.”
“For God, a hero is a person with the heart of a servant….. one that will proclaim the name of their hero, Jesus Christ.”
I used to think that a lot of things I did didn’t really count as being a servant of God. That it wasn’t spiritual or biblical enough, that I didn’t have the “Talent” to really minister to people. Then I realized one day that God does not trivialize anything that is done in the name of Jesus Christ. God knows heros when he sees them by what’s in their hearts.”
So I agree and urge everyone, step up and play your part whatever it may be. Be a hero; go save somebody’s life.
I feel as though I am a smaller part of the body but doing a little bit of everything as to help the whole. A drop of blood travels through the body suppling needs here and there multitasking. Lord knows we need a lot of blood too. Do what you can when you can where ever you are in life.
DeleteWorship team is an EXCELLENT application of this. I just keep doing my part by singing loudly and off-key from the stadium seating :)
ReplyDelete