This week’s devotions are based on “We’re in this Together!” (WATCH HERE)
If you gave a child a single lego block, their interest would wane rather quickly. Buy them a Titanic kit (I had to look it up as I am not a Lego fanatic!) kit with over 9,000 pieces and the child (or adult) is entertained for hours…maybe days. Yet when one looks at all the pieces that make up the kit, there are a few that are similar, but there are many different types of pieces that make up the whole. Every piece has a unique function in the overall creation. Ask a lover of Legos how they feel if they can’t find the right piece and frustration is shared. Every piece has a purpose and without every piece accounted for the creation is left incomplete in some way.
Yet, it would be ridiculous for any one piece of the Titanic to say, “I am the Titanic!” No, only the collective becomes the Titanic. So it is in the Body of Christ. None of us can say, “I am the body of Christ!” The collective of all God’s people is the Body of Christ.
This means we need each other. We need every piece which God has put his name on and designed to be part of the Kingdom of God Kit. We need people not like us with different abilities, different talents, different experiences and different ways of thinking. Each part has a role in the Body of Christ. Paul put it this way:
1 Corinthians 12:14 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.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
The amazing thing about all the parts of the Body, is that God has placed them just where he wanted them to be. That means he gave YOU exactly what he wanted YOU to have in regard to your gifts, talents, etc. Why? Because he needs and wants YOU to be an active part of his Body and combine the gifts he has given to you with others to do his work.
Here’s kind of the cool thing. In Latin, “lego” means, “I put together.” Just like the creator of a Lego kit puts the right pieces together to form the creation he intended, so God has put YOU together in just the right place to make the creation for his kingdom he desired.
There are many parts, but one body. God put us together for his purpose!
Apply: Do you sometimes feel you are not able to contribute or don’t need to contribute to the Body of Christ in your local church? YOU DO! Your gifts are being missed if you are sitting on the sideline. God has placed you there to use your gifts with others to do his work…get involved!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gifts you have given to me and to every one who is in your family of grace. Forgive me for sitting on the sidelines or dismissing the gifts of others. Lead each of us to realize how much we need one another and appreciate and use the gifts of others, even as we freely offer our gifts to your kingdom work. AMEN.