1 Corinthians 12:20-26  The Message (MSG)

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But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of…..  What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honour just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?  The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

 

On a football team it would be very strange if a Goalkeeper told his Defenders he didn’t think they were important and that he didn’t need them.  It would also be very strange for a Centre Forward to tell his Manager that he won’t listen to him because he is unimportant.  A team like this would fail very quickly and there would be a lot of arguments.   On a football team everyone is equally important.  Everyone must work together for the same cause or the whole team will fail.  The verses above tell us a lot of information about this subject and there is a lot we can learn from them.  One thing that stands out from the verses is that sometimes it is easy to think that other people are in very important positions and that, in comparison, we cannot do anything of value.  This is wrong.  We all have our part to play and we must do whatever that part is to the very best of our ability.

 

We are all valuable in the sight of God and no matter what we do or who we are God loves us.  We may think we are unimportant but this isn’t how God sees us.  He loves us so much that he gave his son to die for us in our place.