Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. (v. 14)
Corinth was a fractious, squabbling congregation. The Corinthians were a diverse bunch, and they couldn’t seem to agree on anything. Word of their strife reached Paul, and his response was to urge the Corinthians not to quarrel over their diversity, but to celebrate it, and to realize that different gifts enable people to play different roles in the life of the church. The church is like a body, said Paul, and just as all the parts of the human body have to work together if the body is to be healthy, so it is with the body of Christ.
Which raises an interesting question: what role do you play in the body of Christ? Are you the brain—the thinker? Perhaps you’re the womb—always giving birth to new ideas? Maybe you are the hands—the means by which ideas become reality? Recently, I read an article about the hypothalamus. Did you even know you had a hypothalamus? Believe me, you’d know it if yours stopped working. The hypothalamus is a tiny portion of your brain that regulates all kinds of physical and emotional functions. Maybe that’s your role—balancing, keeping things on an even keel.
Everyone has a gift. Everyone has a contribution to make, however modest. All gifts are given by God, and all gifts are important. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you . . .’” What is your gift, and how are you using it to keep the body running well? —Lou Lotz
As you pray, give thanks for other people’s gifts, and for your own.
About the Author
Rev. Lou Lotz is a recently retired Reformed Church pastor. Lou and his wife Mary Jean live in Hudsonville, Michigan.
