I Corinthians 12:12-31

In yesterday’s devotional we learned that the Apostle Paul employed letters to communicate with churches he had already assisted in establishing and to introduce himself to other Christians he had not yet met. He stayed busy telling others about Jesus and His love for them. He wanted to emphasize that all believers in Jesus Christ are a part of one big family. Today’s text comes from a letter the Apostle Paul originally addressed to Christians living in Corinth, but the message is as timely for us as it was for them.

Sometimes we can develop mistaken notions about the church and we, the people, who make up that body. Paul wrote:

“The church is like a human body. One body has many different parts, but it’s still one body. We are many different kinds of people, but we’re still one body of believers. If a foot said, ‘Because I’m not a hand I’m not a part of this body,’ that would be silly! It would still be a part of the body. And if the whole body was an eye, how could it hear or smell? That’s silly too! God made our bodies to have lots of parts and each part has something special to do. God made all of our parts to work together! The body of believers is the same.”

 The bottom line is that God has made us and gifted us with different skills and talents. All people are important to the church and all can use their skills and talents to advance and prosper the work of the church. Sometimes we esteem certain tasks to be more important and therefore we may feel that we are disposable and not needed. The truth is all of us are important and all of us have gifts to share for the health and vitality of the Church.

An old spiritual, There Is a Balm in Gilead has these lyrics,

If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul,
you can tell the love of Jesus and say, “He died for all.”

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for giving to all of us gifts that we can use to build up Christ’s Church and to give glory and honor to You. Whenever we may feel that we are not important remind us of Paul’s teaching about the many members and one body. Should we feel puffed up about what we do, remind us of the different parts and what they contribute. These things we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.