There's a Whole Body for That

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

You can’t do everything.

You aren’t even supposed to.  You weren’t designed to.

There’s a whole body for that.

I’m talking about the church, which is the body of Christ.

Jesus is the head, and all of His followers make up the body.

Yes, Jesus has humongous plans for His body, such as reaching the whole world and loving every person and teaching them everything He taught.

But that doesn’t mean that YOU have to do all that.  You are just ONE PART, one cell in this body of Christ.

You know, there’s a difference in your physical body between brain cells and white blood cells.  They are different organisms with different purposes.

If you watch white blood cells under a microscope, they might not appear to be doing much, until some attack takes place and they rush into action.

Now imagine the brain cells coming along and trying to talk the white blood cells into abandoning their jobs and helping out the brain cells for a while.

It would be a disaster.  White blood cells have a design and a purpose, and the body works best when they stick to their job and do it to the best of their ability.

The same is true with the individual parts of the body of Christ.  We have callings and giftings.  We are each unique parts.  

Now suddenly the call goes forth that such and so needs to be done.  The trumpet is sounding!  Will you answer the call?

Wait a minute.  There’s a whole body for that.  

The lesson here is, every single body part doesn’t respond to every single call to action.  

This is where guilt comes in, and burnout.  It’s why some people leave the local church altogether, because they can’t do it all.

Of course they can’t do it all.  There’s a whole body for that.

Pastors can’t do it all.  Deacons can’t do it all.  No one can do it all, and they aren’t supposed to.

I love what it says in First Corinthians 12:11.  It is the Spirit of God who distributes all the gifts in the body of Christ, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.

Ephesians 4:16 talks about the body of Christ and uses this phrase, “…as every part does its share.”

What is your share and my share in the body of Christ?  We each need to do our share with all of our might.  No laziness.  No excuses.

But what about all the duties and callings and missions that aren’t our part in the body?  Who’s going to do them?  Things will be left undone!

You can’t worry about that.  Don’t be guilted into leaving your post to go do something else.  Don’t shirk your own part in the body to go elsewhere.

I have some good news today!  You don’t have to take on the whole burden of the worldwide work of the church, and here’s why.  

There’s a whole body for that.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.