I apologize for my absence from the blog for the past few days. My little dog has been really sick and while she was in the hospital I was having to get up very early in the morning to drive over and visit with her and talk to the doctor before I had to go to work. (I have to do my studying and writing in the mornings because I am a "morning person" and can't seem to do a good job with the blog at night.) She's home now, but in spite of her lab work looking much better she won't eat a bite and is losing weight rapidly. I'm having trouble concentrating on anything because I fear we are reaching the end of the road with my little fifteen-year-old pup, so forgive me if I seem scatterbrained. I am going to do my best to give God's word the attention it deserves this morning.
In our last study Paul cautioned his readers not to value some spiritual gifts over others. These gifts are granted by the same Lord and they all deserve the same respect. Today he reminds us that though there are many variations of gifts within the church, we are all one body. Our gifts should not divide us but instead should unify us as the body of Christ.
"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body---whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free---and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many." (1 Corinthians 12:12-14) The physical body, though it has many parts. contains only one spirit The church, though it has many members, contains only one Spirit. We should not let things divide us in the church anymore than we should divide our physical bodies by chopping off an arm or leg.
"Now if the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason stop being part of the body." (1 Corinthians 12:15-16) God created all the parts of the physical body for a reason. We can live without some of our parts, but we will function better physically if we have all of them intact. If one little part of the body gets hurt, the whole body knows it immediately. A couple of summers ago I shut my right pinky toe up in the car door and broke it. A pinky toe doesn't seem all that important when it's just sitting there on the end of the foot doing its job. But believe me, when I absentmindedly slammed that door on my pinky toe and broke it, it took my breath away for a minute. My whole body felt it. Everything in me was aware that my pinky toe was in big trouble. In the same way, we should never think that the gifts of some church members are less important than others. If we hurt the person whose gifts we consider less important, in essence we are hurting the whole church, just as breaking my pinky toe made my whole body feel ill.
The Lord has distributed different types of gifts to us because all these gifts are needed. Could the church function without some of these gifts? Maybe, but the church will function at its best with all of them. "If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body." (1 Corinthians 12:17-20)
Paul asks, "What use would we be if we were nothing but one big eyeball rolling around? We'd have no hands and no feet. We'd have no mouths and no ears. What could we accomplish? And what use would the church be if we all had the same gift? If everyone were a singer, who would preach the gospel? If everyone preached the gospel, who would visit the sick? If everyone visited the sick, who would be prayer warriors? If everyone were prayer warriors, who would teach Sunday school?" Whatever gift the Lord has given you is just as important as whatever gift He's given anyone else. Don't ever value yourselves less just because you think someone else's gift is better than yours. Would God make a mistake? Would the One who knew you before you were ever born not choose the perfect gift for you? Use the gift God has given you to the best of your ability. Don't envy what someone else is doing. Do what the Lord has told you to do. He will abundantly bless you for it.
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