The Little Toe

“Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many (1Corinthians 12:14).

Ouch!

Clumsiness ruled again, except this time I thought I’d broken my little toe. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always caught my little toe on furniture. That little toe likes to reach out and grab the bed, chair legs and the wall. This time, wearing slippers, I jammed it on the loveseat in our family room. Usually, I recover after a couple of hours but the injury caused my whole body to ache yesterday, and one day later I am still having trouble walking. How can such an insignificant part of the body cause so many problems?

That’s because it’s not insignificant.

The little toe may be small, but it is important, and it matters.

My little toe reminded me of the Body of Christ and how we all have different assignments as Christians. “Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many” (1 Corinthians 12:14).  Later, Paul says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

Which part of the body are you?

Do you feel like the little toe? Like you’re not important?

In a practical way, I’ve learned the little toe is critical and if it’s not working properly, it affects the rest of the body.

Scripture says God has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there is not division in the body, but so its parts should have equal concern for each other.

Simply put, no Christian is better than anyone else, no matter what you’ve been called to do. If a Christian with a bigger platform seems aloof and distant because they think they are more important, then that’s a part of the body not functioning as God designed it.

You may not be assigned a major speaking role by God, to stand in front of an audience and teach. That doesn’t make the person who has that calling, better.

Your job may be to place pens and offering envelopes in the pews.

Perhaps you pray behind the scenes for your church.

Your position in the body could be to greet at your place of worship.

It’s all important.

The body of Christ couldn’t make it without you.

We are all gifted in different ways so the body functions at an optimum level.

But sometimes we run into chairs because we don’t feel worthy. We covet another person’s gifting. We want to take our calling back and exchange it for another.

When we do this, the whole body breaks down.

Today, let’s thank God for who we are, and for how we were created. Let’s thank him for the body part he created us to be, and know on faith, that no matter how insignificant we might feel, we are important to God and important to the body. (LBW)