The Body of Christ

Yesterday I had the privilege of hearing Pastor Todd's timely sermon on the body of Christ. "Timely," I say, because a few weeks ago I would have fully understood neither the importance nor the function of the body of Christ. But as is typical of our great God, He used a couple recent events to prepare me for this lesson.

Just prior to his sermon on the body of Christ, Pastor Todd preached about spiritual gifts and the fact that each member of the body is given different gifts which are distributed and to be used for the edification of the body. At the time of this teaching, I was in the midst of emotionally and physically recovering from a miscarriage; and by His grace, the Lord was placing various people with various gifts in my path and using them to strengthen and encourage me. Some showed compassion; some offered words of encouragement; some gave gifts; some prayed. Each member was used in different ways to help me in the healing process. Through this, the Lord opened my eyes to see the body of Christ in action and to thereby more fully understand the importance and blessing of being an active member of it.

So when Pastor Todd preached through 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 yesterday, I really understood his teaching that in the body of Christ there is 1.) no inferiority, 2.) no independence, and 3.) no inaccuracy. In other words, each member of the body is 1.) equally important, 2.) in need of the other members, and 3.) providentially "seated" by God in a designated place. Praise God that through both teaching and trial He prepared me to receive this message. May I allow Him to use me and my gifts to edify others in the body just as He has used others to edify me.