You Are Important!

John Clardy

1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Someone sent me the following illustration.  I am not sure where it originated from or even who sent it to me, but it is a great illustration of the importance of things that we may take for granted or deem insignificant.

Xvxn though this typxwritxr is an old modxl, it works vxry wxll, xxcxpt for only onx kxy. You'd think that with all the othxr kxys working, onx kxy would hardly bx noticxd. But just onx kxy out of whack sxxms to ruin thx wholx xffort.

Havx you xvxr said to yoursxlf, "I'm only onx pxrson. No onx will noticx if I don't do my bxst." But it doxs makx a diffxrxncx, bxcausx to bx xffxctive, a family, an organization or a businxss nxxds complxtx participation by xvxryonx to the bxst of his or hxr ability.

So if You'rx having onx of thosx days whxn you think you just arxn't vxry important and you'rx txmptxd to slack off, rxmxmbxr this old typxwritxr. You arx a kxy pxrson, and whxn you don't do your bxst, nothing xlsx around you works out thx way it's supposxd to.

When it comes to typewriters - for all the younger generation it was what was used before  computers- every key counts!  Is it all right to do away with the "H" just because the "S" says, “I have no need of you,” or for the "D" to say to the "E" I have no need of you?"  Of course not!  We would be handicapped when it came to our ability to communicate through written correspondence.

In reference to the Kingdom of God and its diversity and necessity of different members, Paul in I Corinthians 12 (paraphrase) asks, “If the foot says it is not a part of the body, does that make it so?  The eye can’t say to the ear, ‘I don’t need you!’  The head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ Neither can the Body of Christ say that it does not need every member, regardless of its apparent importance or lack thereof! In fact when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers with it and if one part of the body is recognized all of the Body is blessed.”

In other words, the part is not more important than the whole.  Each part plays a part, but each part also benefits from the parts that other members play!

Everyone is important and needed in the Body of Christ.  There is no such thing as a BIG I or a little you in the Kingdom of God!  Everyone is precious in the sight of the Lord.  We need to learn to appreciate one another for who we are!  God has set each of us in the Body of Christ as He has seen fit.

We need to daily ask God to help us to realize that He has a purpose for each of our lives and to be happy in the part He has appointed us to play!  We need to quit worrying about another member getting more honor than we do and seek to be what God wants us to be and do what He has called us to do and the grace to do it diligently, happily and faithfully for the glory of God and the good of His Body!

Believe this today – YOU ARE IMPORTANT!  YOU MATTER! YOU ARE NEEDED!