Self Doubt

There were a lot of problems in the church in Corinth, Greece. One of the big problems was that some of the members didn’t think they mattered very much (1 Cor. 12). There were others who were front and center in the congregation and who got a lot of attention and acclaim so they felt that in comparison they weren’t worth too much.

Feelings aren’t necessarily facts but if they’re your feelings they feel like facts. It’s a problem because if you buy into those feelings you can become non-productive in the Lord’s Kingdom and cripple the church.

Paul answers this by comparing church to a human body. Everybody understands that to have a fully functioning body you have to have all the parts that make up the human body. To run and jump you have to have legs and knees and toes. To climb mountains you also have to have strong arms and hands with all their fingers. To see, smell, hear and feel you have to have all of your sensory organs. Otherwise, you’re handicapped and crippled.

So too the church.

You can’t have a congregation made up solely of preachers or solely of song leaders or composed of only young people or only of old folks. You’ve got to have all kinds of people with all kinds of abilities. I’ve said before that I’m glad the church isn’t made up of people just like me. If it was I would probably go find somewhere else to attend.

The church needs all its parts and every different kind of member; families, widows and widowers, young people and old people, smart people and people who are not so smart, quiet people and people who are outgoing.

When a small member like the toe can say… I’m sure proud to be a member of a body that has such good eyes, ears, arms and legs, etc. I can’t do what they can do but I can do my part then as a church we can accomplish some things. Otherwise as a church we’re going to need a handicapped parking sticker and just putter along the road as others pass us by.

Let’s make sure we appreciate all our members and build each other up so we can accomplish great things!