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Key Bible Verse: Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a … necessary part of it (1 Corinthians 12:27). Bonus Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-28

Something is seriously wrong in a church where the staff does all the "ministry" and people feel comfortable as mere observers. One of the pastor's main duties is to equip God's people to do His work and build up the church. Every believer is called to use the unique gifts God has given him to strengthen the church.

I can't read 1 Corinthians 12:27 without thinking of Dizzy Dean, a Hall-of-Fame baseball pitcher whose career peaked in the 1930s. During his 1934 season, Dean won 30 games, a feat unequaled for another 34 years. But in the 1937 All-Star game, a hard line drive struck and broke his toe. It shouldn't have been a career-ending injury. But Dean was rushed back into the lineup before the fracture was completely healed, and pitched several games favoring the sore toe. That led to an unnatural delivery that seriously injured his pitching arm. The arm never fully recovered. Dizzy Dean's major-league career was essentially over in four years.

Something similar happens in any church with non-functioning members. The active members become overextended, and the effectiveness of the whole body suffers greatly. Even the most insignificant member, like a toe, is designed to play a vital role.

—John MacArthur in Tabletalk

My Response: To which overextended member could I offer support?

Thought to Apply: The church isn't a dormitory for sleepers, it's an institution for workers; it's not a rest camp, it's a front-line trench.—BILLY SUNDAY (baseball player)

Adapted from Tabletalk (5/05) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Father, Your Son gave His life for the church. Teach me, as His follower, to care deeply about it too.

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