1Co 12:15-18 “If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”
Have you ever felt useless or that your talents were so lowly and insignificant as to be unnecessary? The foot is the lowest part of the body. It is the part that gets to walk through the mud, bear the weight, and feel the initial pain of that coffee table leg in the darkened room. No one has ever written a love song about gazing at the foot. Yet, the body would be unable to move or to avoid danger or even to stand without the foot.
While not the part most glorified in poetry or song, the foot is a vital member of the body. It may not seem as useful as the hand, since it was not designed to grasp things or hold another hand. However, without the foot, the body could not maneuver itself into a position where the hand could grasp that object or touch that other hand. God has never put in the body any gift that did not support and enhance the body, and that includes your gift, however insignificant you might think it is.
If any part of our natural body had the ability to determine whether or not it was going to function with the body, what a mess we would be in! Without the ear, we would not know which direction to look to identify the sound we heard. We would not even know to look and see if the sound were a good thing or a reason for concern. Without the eye, we still would not be able to readily determine if the sound we heard was something we needed to avoid or how long we had to react.
For the body to function at its best, it needs all its members working together in harmony. When this is not the case, the body may continue to function but compensation will have to be made. If the hearing goes, then the body will begin to rely more on the eyes (i.e. reading lips). While it is wonderful that the body can make such compensation, reading lips is not as accurate to communication as hearing. We might know what a singer is saying, but we won’t be able to hear the music.
God has placed many members in the church. We are one body, and that body is Christ’s. There is no room for me to be jealous because my gifts are not like your gifts. God looked on me in mercy and gave me a place where I can contribute to the body of Christ. He looked on you with that same mercy and did the same for you. He gave some gifts to preach the word and some gifts to hear the word. He gave some gifts to reach out to others, and to others He gave gifts that keep us moving deeper into His kingdom.
We should rejoice that God places every member in the body. He puts us where He wants us according to His good pleasure. He equips us to perform the service the body needs from us. By His grace, we are fitly joined together with Christ as our Head.
May He always give to us the grace to be amazed that He saw fit to give us a place in His body that we might function to His glory!
