With all that's going on in the church these days, sometimes it's hard not to get a little envious. After all, we hear wonderful new songs, very anointed and blessed sermons, the adventures of very many missionaries around the globe, and what real child of God doesn't want to be right in there where all the action is? It's hard sometimes not to desire to be where someone else is in the Lord, right? But God says:

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' And the head can not say to the feet, 'I don't need you!' On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so there should be no division in the body, but its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it" (I Corinthians 12:12-26).

We are the body of Christ. The Charismatic, the Academic, the Ritualistic, are all parts of the same body. The one who gives a word of wisdom, the one who gives a word of knowledge, the one who distinguishes the spirits, the one who speaks in tongues and the one who interprets--all the same body. The Prophet, the Healer, the Preacher, the Administrator--again, one. The individual who does the teaching is not more important than the one who cleans the restrooms (You may not remember the message you heard in every place you visited, but I'll guarantee, you remember the places you visited that had nasty restrooms, eh?). Remember that David, the king, was also David, the Shepherd; Jesus, the Christ, is also Jesus, the washer of feet.

Whatever "position" in the Body God has called us to fill, the important thing is to be obedient. He knows what He's doing. And since I can't think of anything in the universe that God created to be stagnant, I'd encourage everyone to just be patient; God is not finished!

"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones" (Proverbs 14:30).