I think the problem is that people look at it too literally. Yes, there are small roles. But what I think it should say is that there are no insignificant roles. Even if you have one line in a show, that one line could have a big impact on the plot. I mean, just think: if the part was unimportant, why would the author take the time to put it in their play?
Last week we had a unity service at my church. We usually have an all-English service and then a bilingual service going on at the same time, but we decided to combine the two. We even had some other languages mixed in there as well.
The message last week, which was very well done by my church's youth minister, was an encouraging one about how the church is meant to be one body. He even used the sweaters Dr. Cliff Huxtable (played by the always hilarious Bill Cosby) wore on the Cosby show. If you haven't seen that show, at least go look at some of the sweaters Dr. Huxtable wore; they're pretty great. But the sweaters were made with all different kinds of fabric woven together into one piece; some didn't even look like they should ever belong there.
And that's the point, isn't it?
This morning, my dad used the literal example from the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the church as one body, and that every part has its own role to play and that not a single one can take over for another part; they are all unique and made for their purpose. An eye can't be a leg, and vice versa. That's just not what they were meant to do. Our eyes have their own purpose, our hands have theirs, our legs have theirs, and so on. Everything has a job to do, and yet they are all connected in one unified purpose. Someone from our congregation said, "The church is not an organization, it's an organism."
That's just how we are, too. We were all created with gifts and talents that are unique and different. Everyone has a purpose in life, something they can do that will have some impact on the world, whether invisible or life changing.
In a previous post, I described a mission trip I participated in. We went to Cuba, and the main reason we were there was for a youth conference they have every summer. And there was one thing people kept telling us four young people in the group, before and during and after: "You guys are the main characters here." I see where they got that idea. I have never been on a mission trip where I have felt so important. I was asked to teach a theatre class. Not just help someone else teach, they wanted me to do the teaching. I've never done anything like that before, and especially not because someone asked me to. But I did. And it was an incredible experience. Not only that; the other three young people either taught a class or helped another teacher. And since it was a youth conference, the people there loved seeing young people from a different country that shared their beliefs.
At the same time, though, the adults were a huge part of that trip. They made all the plans, they taught several sermons and adult bible classes, one directed a choir, one taught a two-part class on marriage, the ladies even had to teach the children's class two Sundays in a row, and they had no idea they were going to do that. Some may believe that the young people were the main characters. That's fine. But I still believe that every single person on that trip was meant to be there for a reason. No one had an insignificant role.
This applies to our lives. God gave everyone a gift, something they are good at that can have an effect on someone or something else. It may be something that seems small and unimportant, but I promise that God had a reason for giving us our talents. We just have to learn how we can do those things in a way that honors our Father.
To finish off this post, I'll share a quick story. Two of my friends got rather small parts for a play that we were taking to a competition. They were bummed out because they hardly ever get the big roles that they really want. I was trying to encourage them, but they wouldn't really listen because I was getting lead roles and they felt that it wasn't fair for me to say those things. But when we performed our show for the judges, they got medals for portraying their roles so well. Hardly anyone in our cast got an award, but they did.
So even if you feel like you have a gift or talent that is insignificant, if you use those gifts to your best abilities, something great will come out of it. God wouldn't give you that talent unless he had a plan for you.
----------
"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."
No comments:
Post a Comment