Doing Our Part

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

DOING OUR PART

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

The point here Paul is making is that each one of us has a part to play in the body of Christ. That is we cannot be a part we are not intended to be. It is like a baseball team in that if a player says that if they cannot be the pitcher, then they don’t want to play. But the team needs each position in order to be successful as a team. This is the church, this is the body of Christ. In order for us to be successful, we all must play the position God has determined we are best suited for. The best part of this is that we can or should be aware of the part we are to be and be the best we can at playing that part. Because God has arranged the parts in the body because he has not only called us but directed our paths so that we have become the member of His body that He wants us to be. This should give us a great pleasure to know we are doing that which God has arranged for us to do. This should also give us reason not to be jealous of someone who is doing something that we think we want to do or be in a position we think we ought to be. Then again, on the other hand, whatever we are doing, whatever place God has arranged us in we should not be prideful if we think we are some important part, for we cannot function at being our part if it were not for the other parts. This is not the Adams family with a hand running around on its own. Whoever saw an eye or a mouth walking about doing that which it does without the rest of the body? Although it is true there is technology available that we could speak these words on the page. At present, our mind needs both our eyes and our fingers to do the writing, as well as our posterior to sit here at the computer and our mouth to sip on our coffee. So it is with the church, the body of Christ. We need each other to do that which God has arranged for us to do. In addition, we can be confident that as he has arranged us and he has also empowered us to be that part. If we were to keep this within the context of the whole of this chapter, then all these parts would be the various gifts of the Spirit and there too we must be careful not to desire to have the Spirit to manifest a gift within or through us that He has not determined. Everything is up to God, we are simply His servants, His friends whom He determines how and the best way we should benefit His kingdom. Still, each part, each one of us has to be a part, has to do that which God has called and empowered us to do, and be content, satisfied, fulfilled being the part he has made us to be. We sing that song about Him being the potter and we are the clay. We ask him to break us, to mold us, and fill us. As the potter decides just what type of pot he makes, we are but to be broken, molded and, filled, just as he does the work. Let us be the best pot he has made us into. Let us be the best part of the body of Christ that we have been called to be.