What Part Are We?

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

WHAT PART ARE WE?

1 Cor 12:14-20

14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be 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 cease to be 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 arranged 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.

NIV

How jealous do we get of those who have such a public gift in the church, or for that matter of anyone who gets the recognition for what they do? It is true that some parts of the body are surely more visible then other parts, but does that make them anymore important? Although there is going to be greater discussion about this in the following verses we should concern ourselves with the idea laid out here. Just because we may not be a soloist, a pianist, guitarist, drama player, Sunday School teacher, small group leader, or whatever else we might think would be nice to be, does not mean we are not a part of the Body of Christ, and as such we have just an important part to perform. In fact there can only be so many of one part, and if we were to take this literally there can only be one of each part. Well, eight fingers, two thumbs, ten toes, a couple eyes and ears, and a lot of hair, and of course a whole bunch of fat. But the point is of course that we need to see ourselves as the part of the body as God has arranged us to be. He has called us to be a certain part of the body, just as He wants us to be. We have to learn to be content with who we are in the body of Christ, and do want are part is. That does mean we cannot simply show up to church sit in a pew, follow alone with the singing, bow or head when told to, stand when we are told to, shake hands when directed, then listen to a sermon,  and get up and leave. We are a part, other than being the congregation, which we have to function as in order for the body not to be handicapped or crippled, or at least very sick, weak, and unable to function correctly. What part are we?