“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” 1Corinthians 12:27
One reason that people don’t take their place in the body of Christ is rejection (yesterday); another is pride.
Paul addresses this pride in 1Corinthians 12:21: “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” It is a temptation for those who are gifted and used by God to feel a little better than those who are not so used. I don’t know if there is anything as ugly or as blinding as spiritual pride. Whole churches can feel that they are more important than other churches and look down their noses at those who are not as “spiritual” as they are. This attitude has caused many unnecessary divisions in the body of Christ and has made it hard for the world to believe that the church is any different than they are. God has made us dependent on Him which all Christians believe, but He’s also made us interdependent on one another. Many believers today seem to believe that they can be a fulfilled Christian without being part of a local church. This is just another form of spiritual pride.
One of my favorite illustrations of our interdependence is a bird called the Pacific Golden Plover. The PGP has two homes, one in Hawaii, and one in Alaska. They have their children in Alaska during the summer and then take the 90 hour, non-stop flight, to their winter home in Hawaii. Remarkably, the children leave for Hawaii a few weeks later than the adults, making a journey they have never made before. Only God in heaven could direct them to a little dot called Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But they’re not just dependent on God, they were also created to be interdependent on one another. Engineers have figured out that the young Pacific Golden Plovers only have body fat (which is their fuel) to make a 70 hour flight. They make up the other 20 hours by flying together in a V, rotating the lead bird to cut down on wind resistance. Without each other they would be 20 hours short of Hawaii and drown in the Pacific. No one of them could ever make it all the way to Hawaii on their own.
Like it or not, you and I have not only been created completely dependent on God (we can’t even draw a breath without Him), we have been created to be interdependent on people. You will never completely fulfill your destiny on earth without embracing your part in the body of Christ. Don’t drown, humble yourself, and we’ll make it to Hawaii together.
One Thing 