Devotion #3: Better Than Teamwork
Many of us have worked as part of a team. Ideally, everyone on a team fulfills a role resulting in a successful project. It is wonderful to have a team work together to complete a great project on time. In reality, however, being on a team can be horrible if members will not listen to ideas, do not show up, will not participate, or complain about the job they have to do. As a Christian, we have something even better than a team.
When we choose Christ as the Lord of our lives, we do more than join His team. Romans 12:4-5 says, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Paul says we become a member of the body of Christ. On a team, I have disagreed with other team members; however, in my body, my right hand has never disagreed with my left hand about how to hold something.
I have hand tremors, and when my right hand starts to shake and I am about to spill my coffee, my left hand immediately helps hold the cup steady, and my feet stop walking until we get everything under control. Then my brain suggests a lid for the cup to keep the coffee from shaking out.
I cannot imagine if my right hand started shaking and my left hand pretended not to notice and did not reach out to help. I can tell you right now that my tastebuds would be angry with my left hand for not helping save the coffee from dumping out of the cup onto the floor. My brain would express scathing thoughts about the inept appendage at the end of my left arm, and every member of my body would be upset at having to put down the coffee, change my clothes, and find a mop! In reality, each member of our body responds and reacts to provide us with what we need, sometimes deliberately, sometimes unconsciously.
In Romans 12:4-5, Paul uses the human body to demonstrate how we should participate as part of the Church, also known as the body of Christ. Just as our body works to ensure we are taken care of, we should work to make sure the body of Christ is taken care of. We do not ignore the other members or try to do our own thing. We all work together to bring a healthy life to the body of Christ. If I am a left hand, and I see the right hand shaking, without thinking about how it might inconvenience me, I jump in and support the right hand so the job we are all working toward will be successfully accomplished.
Each of us has been uniquely created by God to serve a purpose. As part of the body, we should look at what the Lord is doing and eagerly help. My left hand never asks my right hand if it would be okay to help hold the cup. My left hand never just hangs there, waiting to be asked to help, and then gets angry because no one bothered to notice it was there. Instead, the left hand sees a need (the shaking coffee cup) and immediately takes action. Sometimes, the coffee spills anyway, but my right hand never condemns my left hand and says, “Hey, Lefty, if I need your help, I will ask!”
As a part of the body of Christ, each person is uniquely gifted to do the will of Christ in a certain way. Some of us will see babies that need to be cared for in the nursery, and we should do what is required to serve in that ministry. Some of us will notice the students need a bus driver to get to an event to help them grow. Some of us will see the weeds or the landscaping that needs to be cared for. We should not wait around expecting to be asked to serve. We should reach out, ask someone if we have any questions, and gladly do what must be done.
Trust me, I do not see all the work needed in the body of Christ. That is because God created knees, eyes, elbows, and all types of different members to serve in many different ways. The knee will never listen intently to a conversation. God did not create the knee to listen. The knee is created for a different purpose. If each member serves to further the Gospel of Christ and does not wait to be asked, try to be something they are not, or get angry because someone asks them to do something they do not want to do, the entire body will be able to accomplish Christ’s command to further the Gospel. Our body works together so we can live and function in the world. The body of Christ, likewise, should work together to demonstrate Christ to a lost world.