The Body—Where All The Bits Fit
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:4
Chances are good you’ve never seen your stapes or sternum, your spleen or scapula. But look up those words in a medical dictionary, and you’ll be glad they’re on the job!
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Each part of your anatomy differs from all the others, but all the parts work together harmoniously, enabling you to live, breathe, walk and talk. Each member of Christ’s body depends on all the other members for life, health and growth.
This interdependence leads John Henry Jowett to remind us to concentrate on making our unique contribution to the life of the body.
WALK WITH JOHN HENRY JOWETT
“Our gifts will be manifold, and we must not allow the difference to breed a spirit of suspicion. Because my brother’s gift is not mine, I must not suspect his calling. To one is given a trumpet, to another a lamp, to another a spade. All are holy gifts of grace.
“And thus the gifts are manifold in order that everyone may find his completeness in his brother. One person is like an eye—he is a seer of visions! Another is like a hand—he has the genius of practicality. He is a ‘handy-man’! One is the architect, the other is the builder. And each requires the other, if either is to be perfected.
“And so, by God’s gracious Spirit, the individual is only a bit, a portion, and he is intended to fit into the other bits, and so make the complete body of Christ.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Are you a trumpeter for the Lord? Then blow your horn!
Does your lamp brighten another’s darkness? Keep it burning!
Do you have the voice of an angel? Then let your tongue sing God’s praises!
Someone else in the body needs your ministry. Only you can perform a particular act of service. Don’t neglect that responsibility, for God counts on your response to his ability!
