Monday Devo - You Have a Unique Contribution
14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 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. 16 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. 17 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? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"
Some days I feel my life is very routine. Each morning pretty much starts out the same. I get out of bed, take a shower, get dressed (hopefully putting on matching socks), say hi to anyone that may be left in the house, maybe grab a quick bite to eat and jump in the car ready to start the race to work. In that first hour I have been awake my body somehow completed thousands of complex tasks that are so routine they went unnoticed.
Our physical frame is an incredible creation of cells and systems more detailed and complex than any man-made computer. However, these "parts" are not one isolated part but are many parts - each relying on the other to perform properly.
The 1 Corinthians 12 passage makes this very clear. How odd and dysfunctional and even useless would a body be if it was just an ear, a foot or an eye? All parts of the body are necessary and they need to be working in unison. When the members of our church body at CityPoint Church use their gifts and talents to operate together lovingly, the whole body functions properly to the glory of God.
One thing I have observed over the years is that there are people in churches (even our church) that feel they are not good enough, or are insignificant, and can't fill that "part" God has prepared them for. They may feel that they haven't got the right talents to make a worthwhile contribution. I'm here to tell you that these lies are from the Devil. When his misguidance succeeds—which is all too often—he manages to get one more Christian to back away in hopes someone else will do the Lord's work.
Hanging back and waiting to see if someone else may step in to serve is a form of thievery: you're robbing God's church—God's people—of your unique and special contribution.
Your role might be small and go unnoticed, but it is vital to Jesus and to the smooth functioning of HIs body on earth.