Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

Once you understand in your heart who you are, you can worship God with your hands.

I recently injured myself doing something that should be easy and straightforward: sleeping! I’m not sure what happened. Sleeping should be easy—everyone does it—but unlike most things in life, a bed doesn’t come with a manual.

Everything was fine when I went to sleep, but when I woke up, everything was not fine. I had shooting pain and quickly realized I had pulled a muscle in my back. Now, this was not the first time I had hurt my back. When I was in high school, I played football. One day, I was running the ball, and a guy speared me with his helmet right in the back. Ever since then, I have had occasional back problems.

For weeks, I walked like the old man version of myself. The injured muscle in my back isn’t significant in size, but it is connected to many significant parts. Sometimes when I preach, my back locks up, and my leg and neck follow suit.

Have you ever had something small go wrong in your body? You realize, at that point, all those parts work together. In Romans 12:4–8, Paul uses the analogy of a body to describe a church family. If you go into a church and everyone operates in the same part, that is a strange body. We can’t all be legs, fingers, ears, or eyes. Diversity in the body of Christ is crucial. We need each other—we are interdependent—and we are better with one another. Everyone suffers if one person is missing or functioning at less than full capacity.

Different people have different spiritual gifts, various degrees of gifting, and diverse gift combinations. Every Christian has a gift, and every Christian is a gift. This passage, along with three other places in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 4, and Ephesians 4), lists spiritual gifts God has given to people. None of these lists are comprehensive or exhaustive. If you have a skill, talent, or ability that the Holy Spirit uses to serve others on behalf of Jesus, then I believe it is a spiritual gift.

Sometimes it takes trial and error to figure out your spiritual gift. Many people are gifted in multiple areas. The key is to figure out who you are and what God made you to do. What are you passionate about? What are you good at? What do other people appreciate about you? (Continued on Day 257 ...)

Today’s Reflection

Why is it important that the body of Christ has various parts? What part are you?