The Most Important Person

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley, Jr. Although he would make a full recover, the new President was hospitalized until April 11. Even with the leader of the free world lying in a hospital bed, the country moved right on along.

Five years later in the city of Philadelphia, municipal workers walked off the job and began a twenty-day strike. As garbage piled up in the City of Brotherly Love, all of Philly began to stink, and the trash posed a health threat to the city’s residents. It makes you stop and wonder, who is more important: the President of the United States, or garbage collectors?

Both positions are vital to the health of the nation. While the President may hold “the highest office in the land,” there is an established order of people to immediately step into his role if need be. He is important, but he is no more important than the citizens over whom he presides. The same is true within the church. People often think of the pastor as being the most important person in the church, but that is simply not true. What if no one showed up to run the sound or lights? What if no one showed up to keep the nursery or work with children? What if the teachers or singers did not show up? Each of these people play a vital role in the health of the church.

In I Corinthians 12:14-18 Paul wrote: “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”

In the body of Christ some are the President and some collect garbage. Neither is more important than the other. We each have been given a gift by the Holy Spirit, and He wants us to use that gift. It may be tempting to look at what other people do and envy their gift, or feel as if our gifts do not matter as much as other people’s, but that is the wrong perspective. The body functions best when every part is working together, not against each other. Whether you are called to preach, teach, sing, or serve, do it to the best of your ability.