Daily Devotional for August 27, 2019
Necessary Ingredients (Part 2)
Mom sliced a wedge of moist chocolate cake and handed it to Kyle with a fork. Kyle wasted no time shoveling the cake into his mouth.
“Kyle, not only do you matter to God, you matter to other people too, even if they don’t think so.”
Kyle swallowed. “I don’t know about that.”
“All of God’s children form one group called the body of Christ. We’re each like a different body part using our unique gifts. Jesus is the head, in charge over all of us. Each part is necessary and needs to stay connected not just to the head but also to the other parts to be healthy. If one part is hurt or missing, the whole body suffers.”
“But what if I’m the hurt part?” Kyle asked. “No one else in my class is suffering. They’re the ones who hurt me in the first place. And they call themselves Christians!”
“Making fun of you because of the part you got in the play is definitely wrong,” Mom said. “But responding by quitting isn’t right either. Your whole class would suffer. If no one runs the lights, no one will see the play!”
Mom picked up the flour canister. “If the flour told the baking powder it wasn’t important, and the baking powder ran away, would the recipe quit needing baking powder?”
Kyle sighed. “No.”
Mom held the flour jar in one hand and pretended it was a puppet. “Baking powder, you’re going down! This recipe calls for three cups of me and only one teaspoon of you! Guess who doesn’t matter? Bwa ha ha!”
Kyle giggled in spite of himself. “Oh yeah? Just try to have a cake without me!” he said, grabbing the baking soda. “You’ll be the one going down. You’ll have flat, nasty cake without me!” They both laughed. “I guess it’s kind of ridiculous to think we don’t matter, huh?” Kyle said. “I know my job running lights is important—and all the other parts are important too. I don’t understand why the kids made fun of me. It still hurts. But if we’re all part of the body of Christ, I’ll try to remember I have to stay connected. Even though I still want to quit, I guess I won’t.” Pearl Allard
How about you?
Have you ever felt like you weren’t needed by other Christians? It’s painful when people don’t recognize the difference you make, but the truth is that you still matter to others. All those who trust in Jesus make up the body of Christ, and we need one another. Stay connected to other Christians, even when you’ve been hurt, and keep using your unique gifts to serve Jesus.
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