“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. . . . For in fact the body is not one member but many” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 14 NKJV).
One of the pleasures of traveling to many distant places that I enjoy is that I get to see a lot of different things. These include different geographical features, cultures, man-made attractions, and (perhaps my favorite) different animals. I don’t see many water buffalo in Alabama, nor do I get to see yak very often (yes, there really is such a creature).
On a recent trip to the mountains of Nepal I saw a man milking his yaks. It was not much different than milking cows, but still, that was a first. Yaks look a lot like cattle – just more hair and a different tail – but they are not cows, and that matters. Those few unique features not only define a separate species, but it also allows for special uses (carrying loads over high and steep mountains, for example) to which those particular animals are put.
It is important as well for us as humans to recognize that each one is unique. No one else shares the same DNA; no one else has quite the same collection of talents, experiences, resources, and opportunities.
Paul discusses this fact in reference to the church that Jesus established. It is his body (Ephesians 1:22- 23), and it is comprised of many members. Each member of the church, like each part of the human body, has its own characteristics and its own function.
Those unique features create a need and value for every follower of Christ. “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling” (1 Corinthians 12:17)? In another passage he teaches that the body is “joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share” (Ephesians 4:16).
No one is unimportant. Each Christian has a role to fulfill and tasks to perform. Christ would no more desire to dismiss one of his followers than we would choose to cut off some part of our bodies. Yes, disease may make such surgery necessary on occasion, but it is always to be avoided if possible. This is true spiritually as well as physically.
Our human tendency is to shun differences. This is a root of racial prejudice. It is also a cause of much division in churches. We like people around us with whom we share common features, whether they be racial, linguistic, nationality, or simply interests and customs.
Scripture encourages us to embrace differences, welcoming others who are unlike us, so that we may be strengthened by their contributions. Let each part do their share, so that the whole body might be built up and improved. After all, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?”