We are One Body and each person is a preordained part of that body. We are all individual parts of His body created for a specific purpose. We have been gifted in different ways, some gifts and abilities given at our natural birth and some at the new birth, and some added along the way.
When people see a person who is doing what they are made to do, they shine and excel. Then people try to copy them and want to be like them – and that can never work. They will only shine when they are doing what THEY are made to do not when copying someone else.
You will never prosper trying to be like someone else. You will prosper only as you find your own place. The uniqueness and power of your life and your part in the ministry is in its differences. It is imperative to follow the Spirit and listen to what is inside of you.
Romans 12:4-6 – For as in one physical body we have many parts (organs, members) and all of these parts do not have the same function or use, so we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another]. Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them…
1 Corinthians 12:12 – For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
1 Corinthians 12:14-15 – For the body does not consist of one limb or organ but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body?
1 Corinthians 12:16-17 – If the ear should say, because I am not the eye, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where [would be the sense of] hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where [would be the sense of] smell?
1 Corinthians 12:18-27 – But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you; or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.
It is the Lord’s will that there be no division in the Body. We are all different, all unique, though we are all one body. It takes different parts to do different jobs. We need to see and understand and appreciate our differences and not let them divide us.
God has made you a specific member of the body, and this is where you will fit. He placed you in His body just as He pleased. You don’t get to choose which part you are; He already did. People are looking for their places, confused and in turmoil and discouraged. If you are an ear, you will never be a decent nose.
It isn’t up to you to decide what you want to do and what you want to be; it is predetermined. It is up to you to discover it.
A person in the wrong part of the body won’t be able function property. You can’t get God to change concerning your purpose, and you will never have a better idea than Him. He made you. He knows you. He has a place where you will FIT being yourself doing the things you are MADE to do.
Every one of us has been given grace, abilities in different areas. We all have divine influence and ability to do what He called us to do and be what He called us to be.
Ephesians 4:4-8 – There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, when He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.
1 Peter 4:10-11 – As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Every body part is designed to do a job, something that blesses others and advances the kingdom of God. But both the grace and the place are God ordained not self-chosen or self-assumed.
Romans 11:29 – For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. God has set the members in the body as it has pleased Him. The Spirit places you in the body. He doesn’t do this randomly. You are placed in a specific place to do a specific job. If you are an eye, God is never going to help you be an ear no matter how much you pray.
Everyone needs to find their God ordained place and operate in it. Everyone is gifted and called to do something. It isn’t for us to decide what we want to be and do; it is for us to discover. God isn’t trying to hide this place from you. The Lord said, seek and you will find, ask and it will be given to you, knock and it will be opened to you.
Every one of us has a God given place where we fit. Everyone has God given gifting and abilities. Every member of the body of Christ is gifted to fit somewhere specific in the body. You want to be what you are. You want to be what God has made you to be. This is the only thing you will ever be really good at. You need to find where you fit and pursue it.
We all have natural gifts and graces, but we have to develop. We may have the potential but it takes time to develop.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 – Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…
Value the opportunities the Lord gives you no matter how small.
Start out by doing whatever needs to be done. As you do this, you are showing faithfulness which leads to promotion. You are also finding out what you are good at and what you are not good at.
See article on How to Be Promoted in God’s Kingdom.
