Our Worth - In Whose Eyes?

It certainly is embarrassing when I realize how my own hard-headedness slows me down in my work for the Kingdom. I don't know about you, but even my best intentions can go awry when my flesh gets in the middle of it. God is so patient with me trying to get me to see things His way. Yet in spite of His patience, His wisdom and the discernment He tries to pass on to me, I can surely get in my own way. This past weekend is a prime example of this struggle. I pray that you will learn from my mistakes and maybe, just maybe, you can avoid the pitfall that I have tripped into a few more times than I would like to admit.

Without question one of the most vulnerable areas of my life, i.e. the one that is the most frequently opened door to the enemy, is my fear of what people are thinking about me. Every time that I think I have conquered that weakness, it comes creeping back into my life in the most insidious ways. Notice I use the word creeping because that is how low and under the radar these little demons are that we let back into our lives.

The whole situation began innocently enough. I had sprained my foot while helping out at a ministry. I heard my foot crack when I injured it and immediately rebuked the chump and claimed my total healing. I was proactive,iced it and kept it elevated for two days. Then I assumed it was totally healed and resumed my breakneck speed of operation. Within 24 hours it was swollen and painful, so to the doctor's I went. No break, just a sprain. Stay off it was the doctor's advice and use crutches to insure swift healing. Well, I did the best that I could given my commitments. Janice's perspective... :-)

It was slowly getting better and then this weekend approached. I was part of leading a major women's retreat called Holy Spirit Encounter. I had already arranged for new leadership to assume many of my previous duties. I knew that God was insuring I kept my priorities straight in empowering others to take a lead and do the job. I did really well for 2 days. Then Saturday came. Suddenly there was more work than workers and I jumped right in. In actuality my foot had been healed and it was feeling pretty good. However I forgot the big picture lesson that the Lord was trying to teach me. I jumped back in full speed and spent the next 36 hours straight on my feet. By Sunday night my lower calf was swollen, bright red and very hot. But my foot felt great!!! Still I could barely walk due to the pain in my leg.

I ended up in the ER after we returned home and spent some downtime while there thinking and praying about what the Lord was telling me. Late Monday night, He revealed it to me. Even though person after person kept telling me to get off my feet Sunday, I would not do it. I kept telling myself, I can't sit while others are working so hard. The Lord however showed me the TRUTH. I was concerned about what people would think if I were just sitting there while they were working. I had heard individuals complaining about what others were and were not doing and I did not want to become a subject of their conversation as well. I knew what I needed to do to care for myself, but I was afraid to do it. Fear is a tool of the enemy, not an instrument of the Lord. Yet I did not recognize it and allowed it to direct my actions. So instead of walking in my healing, I am once again off my feet for a few more weeks!

What is the Biblical perspective on all of this? 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 is a powerful analogy comparing the Body of Christ to the human body. These are passages that are most likely very familiar to us. Often quoted are verses 18-21 But in fact God has arranged the parts in 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 cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" We understand that each of us has a unique position in the body of Christ. All of us are needed for the purpose for which God has created us. I wonder how often you have read and studied the verses that follow.

Verses 22-27 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 has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that 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. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. The essence of this scripture is that our individual importance in the body is equal in God's eyes. Whether we are an outside appendage of the body that is visible and active, like a hand or an eye or the mouth, or we are an internal organ that is not highly regarded like a capillary or the lining of the stomach, or maybe just a single cell, God has created a unique purpose for us. If the body is to function in its most efficient manner able to do all that it was created to do, then each part must be functioning.

So it is with the body of Christ. Whether we feel significant or not, we are in His eyes and just as important, we need to regard each other with that same respect and recognition of value. When I think about the experience I had this past weekend and the price I am paying for not believing that it is OK to take care of this little component of the body of Christ, I begin to hear His voice patiently trying to explain it to me again. It does not matter what others think about how and where I function in the body. It does greatly matter what my Lord thinks about how and where I function. He cares greatly that I am in the best condition to perform my function within the body. That means I have to pay attention to all His messages about what I am to do and AM NOT TO DO. Can you imagine trying to use your leg bone as an eye with which to see, or your eye as a bone to hold up the body? Crazy, yet that is exactly what some of us are trying to do.

So let us be content with being who He created us to be and try to be the best we can within our individual place in the body. I know that is my assignment as I rest these next few weeks and allow my leg to heal. I surely hope I have learned this lesson for the last time.