Friday, May 17, 2013 - 5:05 pm

Today I read through 1 Corinthians 11-12, and as I read chapter 12, I was thinking about community and the importance of looking out for others first. I see highlighted the need we have for all the parts of the body of Christ, namely His church, to be working together. We are all needed, and we are all useful, in the way that God has created us to be. As verse 18 says, "But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be." We all have a purpose, and even if it doesn't come with a high profile it's important. We all have something that we can, and should, do for the body as a whole. Verses 24-25 say, "...But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, / so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." Since God is the one who arranged and combined us in the fashion that He did, we ought to help one another be the best of their particular part that they can, without trying to force everyone to have the same gift that we do. Verses 19-20 sum it up well, "If they were all one part, where would the body be? / As it is, there are many parts, but one body." The key, I think, is to find the part of the body that we are made to be, not try to be the same part as everyone else, and not try to restructure the rest of the body around us doing whatever we want. There is a best way to fit into the body, and that way takes into account our gifts, the needs of others, and the heart of God, and creates unity and diversity at the same time.