David Bahn – Reflections

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 1 Corinthians 12; Psalm 115; Judges 17; 18.

1 Corinthians 12:12-20

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

I am not a details person. Too many details? My brain gets full and I cannot process any more. But sometimes I need to know those details. Time, place, date, and occasion are important details. So while I may know there are is something happening sometime somewhere, unless I know the details, I’ll miss the party! Diane, however, is a details person. She keeps track of all those things. And they are all important. And she can handle them all much better than I. Most often that is a blessing. I know the big picture things. Diane knows the specifics. We need each other.

But that can be frustrating. I can feel my way through many a computer problem, like how to change a setting or how to fix an issue. Diane needs the steps. So it’s difficult for me to teach her. I frustrate her by saying, “I don’t know, I just do it.” She frustrates me because she can’t just figure things out.

The same can be true in the church. Some people are wired to care for people. Their hearts go out to those in troubling situations and they can’t understand why everyone is not responding as they do. Others are wired to keep the church running. They drop everything when the air conditioning goes out and can’t understand why people say it’s not that important.

But we need both – in the church and in life. That’s why God put us together in the church and the world. We need details people who track expenses and read financial statements. We need also to have Sunday School teachers, and small group leaders. We need pastors and evangelists and trustees and administrators. That’s all God’s provision for us.

When it works best it’s like a human body. The hands and eyes work with the ears and feet to see where to go, hear what is being said, and help where needed.

And when it all comes together, it’s a beautiful thing to see. The church becomes what God designed it to be – one body, many parts, each doing its share. The detail people make sure nothing falls through the cracks. The big-picture people keep our eyes on the mission. The helpers, the teachers, the givers, the pray-ers – all serving under one Head, Christ himself. When we honor each other’s gifts instead of competing with them, the whole body grows strong. And in the end, it’s not about who does what — it’s about God working through all of us to build up His people in love.