Some Christians built a new church building and invited everyone to come see it. All admired its beauty. Up on the roof, a little nail heard the people praising everything about the new building. They praised everything but him. No one even knew he was there, and he became angry and jealous. “If I am that insignificant, nobody will miss me if I quit,” he said to himself. So the nail released its hold, slid down off the roof, and fell in the mud.
That night it rained and rained. Soon, the shingle that had no nail blew away, and the roof began to leak. The water streaked the walls and the beautiful murals. The plaster began to fall, the carpet was stained, and precious Bibles were ruined by water. All this because a little nail decided to quit! While holding the shingle, the nail was obscure, but it was also useful. Buried in the mud, it was just as obscure, but now it was useless and would soon be eaten up by rust.
You may, like the nail, feel obscure at times. You may feel that the job you are doing is no big deal. You may think that if I weren’t here nobody would miss me. But just like the nail, your absence is felt. When you are not present for worship, the body of Christ is hurt. We are ALL part of the Lord’s ministry. Don’t ever feel like you are not special to Christ or His Church. Each and every Christian should be an active, working, functioning part of the Body of Christ. Read what the apostle Paul penned down for us in 1 Corinthians 12:14-27 For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. 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.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.
Paul reminds us that we all have important responsibilities in making the Gospel known to the entire lost world. That may mean going over seas and preaching the Word on a far away mission field. Or it could mean going to your neighbor or to your fellow co-worker and talking to them about the Salvation Christ has to offer. We are all important. Not that any of us should not do the afore mentioned ideal plan of sharing the Gospel, but we do need to keep in mind that there are other areas we can work for the Lord in. Do not overlook the importance of doing your faithful service to the Lord by working in the local congregation. It means just as much to the Lord to be the one that cleans the baptistery as it does to be the one that immerses someone in it. Please do not take what I have just said wrong. The point that is trying to be shared is that unless you do what you do for the sole purpose of giving the glory to the Lord then you should not even do it. Too many times we do this and we do that so that others will say, “Oh my, isn’t he/she a grand Christian.” Well the way I understand it we should do what we do so that the Lord will say, “Well done My good and faithful servant.”
The hardest thing to remember is that you, that I, that we matter to God and to Christ. God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die for us and Jesus willing did that. That should be proof enough that we matter. Christ has expressed how much He loved us. Let us reciprocate that love and not be like that nail and quit doing our job. Let us continue on with the attitude that we “get” to work for Christ, instead of we “got” to work for Christ. If we work tirelessly with this attitude in mind we will come to a clearer knowledge that YOU DO MATTER!!!