Though we come to salvation individually, according to Scripture we are to live out our Christianity corporately. The body of Christ is symbolic of His faithful servants who are in fellowship with (and dependent upon) one another.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:3-5
Every Christian is equipped to serve the Lord in a specific capacity ... one's ego stays in check by the fact that he is but a part of the whole. His sole duty is to offer himself as such.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1
MacArthur - Each believer receives the exact gift and resources best suited to fulfill his role in the body of Christ. Trying to operate outside those capabilities produces frustration, discouragement, guilt feelings, mediocrity, and ultimate defeat. We fulfill our calling when we function according to God’s sovereign design for us.
The Lord's divine plan for His body is for it to display unity in message and commitment; exercised with a diversity of gifts.
Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:15-16
We must all enter through the same door of self-sacrifice, yet once inside ... one's service becomes uniquely distinct.
Are you a good steward of the gift God has entrusted to your care?
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