Hi! My name is Nose. I’m that body part that sits in the middle of your face. I hate being there. Most of the time I enjoy my job smelling all the odors, but I wish the Creator would have put me somewhere else on the body out of public view. I’m the first part most people notice, especially if I have a zit or I’m runny; the first body part to sunburn, and people surgically alter me because I’m either too big or not the shaped they desire.
“I heard that!” My name is Little Toe. I wish I could be where you are. No one ever notices me, and it is dark and cramped down here. I don’t understand what makes you so important to be on the face. Smell! What is that anyway? At least you have a specified task. Everybody thinks I’m useless not understanding that I at least help provide balance. I wish we could change places.
“Request granted,” came a booming voice out of heaven. Next day, Little Toe started out all excited about his new position with everybody noticing him, but he soon realized they were also laughing uncontrollably when they saw a toe in the middle of a face. Nose yelled out from his new dark spot, “You should be glad you didn’t have the ability to smell. It stinks down here.” Both agreed this was a bad idea and maybe the Creator had given them unique functions and positioned them in the body where they most effectively fulfilled their purposes.
OK, a silly story, but one I have used over the years when I taught on people’s position, function, and importance in the Body of Christ. In 1 Corinth 12:12ff, Paul uses the human body as an analogy comparing the diversity and arrangement of the human body parts to the Church also composed of thousands of various parts with different spiritual gifts and roles.
One of the basic desires of all humans is to feel needed and important. Problems arise based on how we make that evaluation. The secular world and often churches define importance by wealth, big numbers, achievements, education, fame, etc. When James and John sought significant positions of authority asking to sit on Jesus’ right and left, He explained that the Gentiles established importance on how much dominance and authority one possessed over other people. Jesus said, It is not this way among you (Matt 20:26). Instead, God judges a believer on how they serve others and not a position they gain.
The most meaningful and fulfilling role in which we can serve is the place God has appointed us. God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired (1Corn 12:18). God has so composed the body (1 Corn 12:24). God has appointed . . . (1 Corn 12:28). The pastor appointed by God to a small rural or inner city church is no less important than the pastor placed in a large suburban church. The Sunday school teacher with the large class in the sanctuary is no more important than the teacher with a few students in a small room in the back of the church. Believers do not need to pursue prestige, fame, or notable accomplishments to please God, but only faithfulness in the ministry He has given us.
I’ve hobnobbed with the ‘big boys’, sat at the head tables at major events, taught huge assemblies that included leaders, lawyers, doctors, politicians, even a king, numerous tribal chiefs, and a few princes and princesses. Yet, I only felt a quasi-sense of importance. It always seemed more like I was a little toe on a face. Nevertheless, I feared that changing might make me less accepted by God. Then the Lord taught me a valuable lesson about our task in ministry and His view of importance from two men, Daniel and Ezekiel. Both were around the same age and exiles in Babylon. Daniel left Israel with the first group when he was 16 or 17 years old. Eight years later Ezekiel left with the second group at the age of 25 years old. Nebuchadnezzar ordered three years of training in the best of Babylon’s schools for Daniel. Ezekiel, a priest, lived in a house near the Chebar River among the common people. God had called both of them. They both wrote books in the Bible. However, was Daniel’s position more significant than Ezekiel’s because he was educated and the Lord appointed him to work with royalty, wear the finest clothes, live in luxury, and sit with Kings and dignitaries? No! God, appointed and placed them in their respective positions and ministries—one to royalty and one to the common people. After understanding this, I realized I felt more needed and fulfilled when working with everyday ordinary people. I stopped striving to minister in the so called notable positions and accepted my God appointed role in the Body of Christ. Be faithful in the place God has assigned you. If He has another place for you, He will make it happen. When you get out of God appointed function people may stare and laugh at you and it will probably stink.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Stop seeking importance based on the world’s definition. God has already accepted you in Christ. Be faithful in the role the Lord as given you.