Day 221: Unpacking Romans 12- One Body, Different Functions

Romans 12:3-8

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves,measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

There’s two subjects I want to touch on today, one obviously being, we are all one body and we are all different. We move differently. We work differently, and we function differently. However, through our differences we work together to operate as one body.

We as a people function as the body of Christ. God has called us to different areas has given us different gifts and purposes. Some of us are preachers, some of us doctors, musicians, performers, scientist, etc. Even though we all have different functions we work together as one body. If all of us were the same, how would we make up a body? I love the symbolism of a body, because one part of the body does not work without the other neither do they function the same, but they do not work as a body without each other. The foot is not the same as the hand and the mouth isn’t the same as the eyes but they are all part of one body. They don’t work separated, The foot cannot function on its own, the eyes cannot stand on their own. All of these part come together to make one body. That’s what we are, we are the pieces that come together to form the body of Christ.  The overall point is that we work together as one body. We do that by doing our part within the body of Christ and not trying to take on someone else's job or calling. We must know who we are in Christ in order to help elevate the body of Christ. We are part of why it functions and if we aren’t doing our part than we are messing up more than we think. We may not think we are doing much but without us, the body cannot function correctly.

My next point is, don’t look down on or think you are better than someone because of where you are in Christ. We as a people are one, we are one body, I can’t stress that enough. What I’ve seen in the Christian community far too often and it is some of the reasons we stand so divided. Envy, competition, and arrogance. A body doesn’t function when the eyes are jealous of the leg, or when one part sees itself superior to the next. There should be no competition within the body of Christ, it is not about who saves more souls, or who can bring the most people to church. It’s not about who can quote the most scriptures or any of that. It is about doing what we were sent here to do, living out our God given purpose. It’s about lifting our brothers and sisters up and praying for them to grow and succeed. It will never be about rejoicing in their downfall. We do than far more often than we think.  

When God made us, He made us equal. He loves us equally. We are to love each other the same way, to love our neighbor as ourself. We don’t look down on anyone or think we are better than the next person. We cannot walk around thinking of ourselves higher than what we are. Either we walk in humility by choice or allow God to humble you and the latter isn’t flattering at all.

All this to say, we are one in Christ and nothing should divide us. We are meant to function together as one body. Yes, we are different, but we are also one in the same. It’s pretty mind blowing when you think about it.

Response/Prayer Time

Respond in whatever way you feel led today. Go over the passage we focused on and study the scripture, and have a conversation with God. Pray unity within the body of Christ. Pray for God’s people and pray that God will lead you to where He wants you to be.  

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 222 to continue unpacking Romans 12. Have an awesome day, I love you!

Day 133: A Dose of Humility

Proverbs 11:2

When pride comes then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Matthew 23: 11-12

The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, whoever humbles himself will be exalted

Matthew 18:4

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

James 4:10

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Philippians 2:3

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

There’s a quote I read in a book about a year ago that changed my perspective on life, I cannot remember who said it but she said,

“When I looked away from myself I realized there was a whole world out there.”

Sometimes we are so focused on ourselves that we don’t really see what’s right in front of us, we don’t see the world because we are too consumed with self. That is not a life I want to live, and I know that is not the life God has destined for me to live.

Our generation as a whole needs one large dose of humility, we seem to be lacking in that area a bit. With the growth of technology and social media, we often feel the need to boast and pump ourselves up. Whether it’s posting our good deeds on social media, bragging about what we have (#Blessed, #Humbled) and what we do, or how hard we work compared to others. The older generations call us self-centered, they say we are all about ourselves, and I can disagree to an extent. We can be some caught up in ourselves. We must take the focus off of self and put it completely on someone else. We have to look away from ourselves and our own gain if we want to go anywhere if we want to truly live.

There are so many scriptures to quote about humility and what it means to be humble but I will choose a one more and let you do the rest of the research.

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The first thing God tells us to do in this scripture is to humble ourselves. That is the first instruction. We have to humble ourselves before God, we cannot go before Him with arrogance and pride, who are we to do that. We cannot pray out of an arrogant and selfish heart. Before we do anything we must humble ourselves as God is the master of all and we stand in desperate need of Him every second of every day. A humble heart is a heart God can change and work on, there’s not much an arrogant and prideful person will allow God to do.  

We all want to be great, we all want to do something with our lives and be the best at what we do. I may not be speaking for everyone but I am definitely speaking for myself when I say this. Sometimes the greatest among us is the lowest among us because they know what it is like to be humiliated, and that brings humility. Sometimes we reach a point where we think we have the right to be cocky or arrogant. I don’t care how successful or wealthy we are, no one has the right to be arrogant or cocky, it’s humility all around the board. If anyone had the right to boast and be arrogant it was Jesus, and if he stayed humble, who do we think we are to walk around like we are better than anyone else. The greatest man to ever walk this earth is the humblest man to ever walk this earth. He was not too good to go to the low places and get His hands dirty, and we were not boastful in all the great things He did. If we want to be humble we must mock the perfect man, and that man is Jesus. Jesus is the image of humility, He shows us what it is to be humble and instructs us to do the same. When we commit our lives to living like Him we do not have to try too hard to be humble as the Holy Spirit dwells in us, it comes almost naturally. We cannot follow Christ halfway and think we are getting away with false humility.

False humility is pride wrapped in what seems to be humility. Where we pretend to be selfless for the sake of someone seeing how humble we are and mentioning it to us. I would rather someone be honestly arrogant than have false humility because it’s a lie. God sees right through that.

If we learn to look away from ourselves we will see that there is a whole world outside ourselves. We have to put ourselves aside, put our pride aside, and think about others. Life is not about being recognized for what we do, and bragging about how much more we do than others. It is so much more, but that is not for me to tell you. We must discover it for ourselves, and seek Christ in order to find the answer. It’s all in Christ when we live the life He lived then we will truly know what is it to be humble and walk in humility.  

Response/Prayer Time

Today, simply talk to God or ask Him about what it means to be humble.

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Share this with someone and be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 134!