Many gifts

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Ephesians 4:16. The verse says, "From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

Now, when you first read that verse you might think it is talking about how our bodies work. It's not. It's talking about how the church works. The verse is an allegory that compares the proper working of the Church, which is composed of all believers, with how the body works.

Paul touches on this issue in Romans 12:4-8 too. There he says, "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

So you might wonder why that's inspiring to me. It's because, when thinking about that, I think we all realize how important we are to the Church, regardless of our personal gifts. I use to think I had little to offer God in terms of my personal skills. I'm not a great public speaker, I'm not a gifted musician, and I'm not a super social person who's great at taking groups of people and driving them to the Gospel. But you know what, others are. My gifts are different, but they're no less important.

The point is it takes all of us, using our unique gifts, to make the Church work. So if you're out there thinking there is no way God can use you to further the kingdom — you're wrong! It takes all of us, and we all have an important part to play in the kingdom of God.