The body

I love it when Paul writes about the church as body in 1 Cor 12. When I was a child, I was greatly amused by the idea of the ear saying, "I quit, because I'm not an eye."

We're familiar with this passage, and the idea that it takes all the parts to make an effective body. What I like most about the verses I read this morning is verse 18: "But in fact God has arranged the parts of the body, everyone one of them, just as he wanted them to be."

There's a word of comfort there, and a couple of words of warning.

The comfort is this: When it comes to our giftedness for God's work, we can stop fretting about what we can't do. It's easy to devalue our ability to contribute because we can't sing, or teach, or speak fluently. It's easy to consider ourselves second-class citizens when our gifts seem to be more mundane. Paul would say, "Stop that. God did it on purpose; you need to start thinking about why He gave you the gifts you have."

First warning: Along with that comfort, I lose my excuse for not doing. There is a specific reason why God included me in the body with the gifts He gave me. If I opt not to use my gifts to serve the body, then I'm of no more use than a deaf ear or a blind eye, and the body suffers accordingly.

The other warning relates to my attitudes toward others. If God arranged the parts of the body just the way he wants them, then I have to be careful about church membership. God knits congregations together so that all the gifts needed are present. If I decide to "encourage" a member to take his gifts elsewhere, I compromise God's intent. And when we become dissatisfied and start looking for a new home, we'd better be pretty sure of our motives. The outcome of either of those things could be the body has to function with only one eye or ear.

The key point, though, is this: I exist to serve as a part of something bigger than me. I'm a piece of the organism God designed to do His work. Maybe I need to pay more attention to what the body is doing, and join in.