The Important People

I have spent some time recently in the book of I Samuel. I Samuel is an exciting book to me because it basically tells the life story of several individuals. First, it's the life story of Samuel - how his mother so earnestly prayed for a child and her promise to give the child back to the Lord. Then, there is the telling of how she followed through on that promise. There is the life story (albeit brief) of Eli's sons - Hophni & Phineas. The next two life stories are the most interesting to me - Saul and David. In just a few short chapters, I can read about the rise and fall of Saul as the first king of Israel. Being annointed as the first king of Israel - what a great claim to fame. What a great honor to be chosen by God for such an amazing position. Saul, however, let the power go to his head and later in I Samuel 15, the Bible tells me that the Lord was grieved that He had made Saul the king. It's here that Samuel goes on his quest to find the next king, and where we begin to read the life story of David.

I have written before that I can relate to David. When I read the Psalms that David wrote, I sometimes feel that I could have written those same words. I can relate to the feelings, to the emotions of the words that David writes. So interesting that God chose David to be King. David was a shepherd boy who could play the harp with talent. He was not an important person when he was chosen to be the King. He was just the opposite - just a shepherd. His own father did not consider him important enough to even be present when Samuel came looking for the next king. Jesse brought out all of his sons - with the exception of David. When asked if these were all of his sons, Jesse's reply was that there was one more - but he was tending the sheep. I can just imagine Jesse saying that and what he must have been thinking. God wanted the seemingly unimportant shepherd for an important position.

Isn't it funny that I think about it like this? Important vs. unimportant. It is in my own humanity that I categorize people or their position in the body of Christ this way. David was an unimportant shepherd. Jesse's other sons were important enough to be brought before Samuel. It is clear to me that this is how Jesse was thinking about it, too (otherwise he would have brought David to the "showing"). It is not uncommon for me to categorize people this way - people who are important vs. those who are unimportant. I'm not really talking about the worth of people, but my perception of the value of their service to God - particularly as it relates to church.

For me, it is easy to look at those who serve in ministry and deem them important to God. After all, they are serving God. When someone sings a solo or plays an instrument, I can't help, in my human nature, think that God must think that person is important - otherwise, why would He choose them to do whatever it is they are doing. Is this making any sense? Maybe it's too early for me to dig this deep into my own thinking....more coffee is needed.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is easy for me to slip people into the categories of "they are important in the body of Christ" vs. "they are not as important". I know that this can come across as irrational but am I alone? Has no one else ever thought that? We may not say it out loud (or type it into a blog like I do), but I think it's something that does get some thought time. Maybe it's self pity - the "I'm not worthy to be so important that I can do ____" (fill in the blank).

The truth of the matter is that no one is more important than another in the service of God. We all are important to keeping the body of Christ moving and working. A.W. Tozer wrote in his book, Who Put Jesus On the Cross "I Thank God that the kingdom of God is not divided into areas for big, important people and areas for little, unimportant people. Every one is just as needful in God's sight as any other!" How true that is. The kingdom of God is not divided. Yes, David was a lowly shepherd, but there was a piece of the proverbial puzzle that only David could fit. I do not always think of myself as important in the body of Christ. I'm just me. I'm not my friend who can sing so beautifully that it brings tears to people's eyes (and they shall remain nameless in my blog....); I'm not my friend who can teach a Bible lesson with seeming ease. Yet, the kingdom of God is not divided. Everyone is important in the body of Christ. Everyone has a function and A.W. Tozer was right - everyone is just as needful in God's sight as any other. My job is to actively seek out where it is that my important function lies in the body of Christ. My responsibility is to make sure that I'm doing all I can to be an active participant and do what I'm called to do. It may seem an unimportant task, but I'm called to do it. To not do it, though, whether I think it's important to the body of Christ or not, would be sin.

My prayer today is that we all think about our place in the body of Christ - to think about the fact that we are all the same in His eyes - that we are needful just like any other. My prayer is that when I begin to think about people as important vs. unimportant in the body of Christ to recognize this as sin and to remember that everyone has a function and God ordained purpose in keeping the body of Christ moving.