But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:24 – 25
Six months after snapping my right ACL and tearing my MCL and meniscus, I became more aware than ever that when it comes to the body, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
At the start of 2010, I did not even know I had an ACL (I always felt nauseous during anatomy classes), but I can testify that during that year no one piece of my body had more attention than my knee — and in particular the ligaments that you cannot see but that are responsible for all the movement. I have firsthand encountered the truth that “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Corinthians 12:22).
In the same way, every single Christian person is placed in the body by God for his purposes. God does not esteem or value any part more than any other part but has set each part in place so that the whole will function effectively.
In our celebrity-obsessed culture, it’s easy to become lulled into thinking that if people are better known, more visible, or being used in a unique way by God at a particular time, it makes them better than any other part of the body. We need to take our God-assigned place in the body and not devalue it or aspire to a more prominent place. Prominence and significance are not the same thing. The liver is not prominent in the human body, but it is extremely significant.
We should not aspire to be the biggest and the best, but rather to be all that God has called us to be and to do all that he has called us to do.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
If the church were a physical body, what part would you be?
Do you hold that part to be just as important as others — but not more important?