Once a week I get to play soccer with some like minded Dad types. It’s a late night session where we don’t have to worry about phone calls, kids, work, interruptions, etc. In the game of soccer, there is generally three sections of players; scorers (strikers), distributors (midfielders) and defensive players. Around the world the most celebrated players are always the goal scorers (strikers). You’ve seen them. They are the ones sliding on their bellies or running to the sidelines and getting the crowd pumped up. In other sports, this holds true also. In American football, the guys scoring touchdowns and doing their victory dances are always among the top jersey sales.

Although this may be a terrible analogy, do we not see the same in our faith? We see those that are our “goal scorers”. They incite passion in the congregations. They persuade men and women to the gospel. They speak truth eloquently from their respective platforms. Many times we compare ourselves to them and it feels sometimes that we fall so short. Maybe it is that we have not been given the same gifts and are given other “non visible” gifts… maybe we are the defenders.

Have you ever heard the phrase “defense wins championships”? Well, it’s true. You cannot win unless your defense is stout. We are ALL part of one body, just like as a defender you are on one team. You win and lose together. Every part is important even though not every part is glorified on this earth. Check out what Paul writes to the Corinthian church when they struggled with this ideal:

1 Corinthians 12:12-27
There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13 We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. 14 So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.
15 Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. 16 And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? 18 God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. 19 If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? 20 As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.

Maybe a foot is not as recognized among others as a hand or an ear as an eye, but they are all necessary for the body to function properly. “God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be”. So as you serve the Lord as an “ear”, or for the analogy above, as a defender, do it as unto the Lord knowing that He has placed you just where he wants you!

Soli Deo Gloria

Jesse Horne