“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ.”  1 Corinthians 12:12

 There was trouble in Corinth!  For all their great gifts, they had envy, jealousy and serious division.  For all their knowledge, they lacked God’s wisdom and were fighting like children.  They fought over certain leaders they preferred and didn’t value how God had gifted them, wanting impressive gifts instead. Their attitudes revealed deep problems in the church and like a ship wrecked upon the rocks, they were breaking up and tearing their church apart.  By their practice, they were denying their witness to Jesus Christ.

To this very worldly church, the Apostle Paul not only rebukes their sin, but goes on to lovingly explain the importance of unity, as well as God-ordained diversity of gifts.  The key factor in that unity was the Holy Spirit.  Paul points out that each person has a gift and it was to be used for the common good.  He gives the physical body as a perfect analogy, diverse parts all functioning together for the common good.  So it is with Christ!  Just as Christ can’t be divided, His Church can’t be divided either!  Wherever there are people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, there is the Body of Christ, all connected by the Holy Spirit.

Consider the diversity of the Body and the gifts He gives to each.  The Corinthian believers wanted the showy gifts of healing and tongues, but Paul reminds them, they can’t all be an “eye,” or a “hand,”, or an “ear,” or a “tongue.”  “God would arrange the members in the body each one of them as He chose!”………“To equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” 1 Cor. 12:18, 20  The primary purpose for spiritual gifts was to equip the saints.

Consider the analogy of the Animal School.

“Once upon a time, the animals decided to organize a school.  They adopted a curriculum of running, climbing, swimming and flying.  To make it easier to administer, all the animals took all the subjects.

 The duck was excellent in swimming, better than his instructor.  But he only made passing grades in flying, and he was very poor in running.  Since he was slow in running, he had to drop swimming and stay after school in running.  This caused his web feet to be badly worn, so he became average in swimming, but average was quite acceptable, so nobody worried about that—except the duck!

The rabbit started at the top of his class in running, but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles because of too much make-up work in swimming.

 The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but had constant frustration in flying class because the teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down.  He developed a charley horse from over exertion and so only got a C in climbing and a D in running.

 The eagle was a problem child and was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist.  In climbing classes, he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there.”

Moral of the story:  each set of creatures has its own gifts in which to excel.  A duck is a duck and only a duck, he’s built to swim, not run, climb or fly.  A squirrel is only a squirrel.  To move it out of its forte climbing, will drive a squirrel nuts!  Eagles are beautiful creatures, but not in a foot race.  A rabbit will win a foot race every time, unless…an eagle gets hungry!

Everyone is needed!  Don’t compare yourself to another.  “Those who compare themselves with one another are without understanding.” 2 Cor. 10:12.  Have you found your place?

Your friend, Jean