Positions of Equal Concern

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. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 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. 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. 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? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

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!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 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, 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, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  (1 Corinthians 12:12–27, NIV 1984).

My Musings – I grew up in the sixties and early seventies. We didn’t have the distraction of video games. We played baseball (hardball, not softball) in the summer and football (tackle, not touch or flag). American “football” that is. My apologies to the rest of the world.

In baseball, everyone wanted to be the pitcher. In football, everyone wanted to be the quarterback. But not everyone had the talent it took to be a pitcher or a quarterback, and for obvious reasons not everyone could be the pitcher or the quarterback. You needed the rest of the team to play the game.

Of course, there was no baseball or football in the first century, and imagery of the body is a much better illustration for the Church. Maybe we all have our eyes on certain functions within our local assemblies. Certainly, there are tasks that many would like to avoid. But all these are important, the ones we covet and the ones we don’t. And as Paul points out “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.” But more importantly, it is God who arranges, “the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

My Advice – Play the position that God assigns you.  He views your position with equal concern as ones you might otherwise want to play.