Team

I can remember back in fifth grade when I made the basketball team for the first time. I was so excited that now I could be part of a team, I could make a difference. I wasn’t that great of a player at the time but I gave it my all and sometimes I wondered if my all was enough for the team. I was tall, skinny, and had that 70’s bushy hair going on. Needless to say, I wasn’t the coolest guy on the team. I didn’t have the skills that everyone else had, but I was fast and I could catch the ball. My shooting skills had much to be desired; however, I was a great defender. If I couldn’t shoot the ball right, then I wasn’t about to let the other guy shoot it either. So I blocked his shot. It sounds simple to me. I was made fun of, had a nickname, and all the other embarrassing things that came with being the outcast on the team. I mean if the team didn’t like me then why was I there? What purpose did I have? They wouldn’t work with me and they felt that I was just in their way. I felt lonely and sometimes just felt like quitting. Again why was I put on the team? Maybe the coach saw something in me that I didn’t. Maybe the coach saw the determination inside of me to do better. Maybe he saw inside of me things that others couldn’t understand. Either way I made a difference. If someone was tired in a game, I could go in and give them a break. If that was the least I could do, then I made a difference.
I believe the church, the youth , and everyone else has a vital role in the body of Christ. The body had many difference parts, like a basketball team has many different positions and players. We all have our purpose in the body. We all have different skills, different gifts and together the whole body can function the way Christ needs it to function. If you ever feel you have no place in the body, you need to remember that Christ sees something in us that we cannot always see. He knows more about you and I than we could imagine. It’s our responsibility to get plugged in and try to make a difference for the whole body, the whole team, even when others reject us. Let God deal with the rejection, you deal with your place on the team. We all need to have compassion for the team, like Christ has for us.

1Corinthians 12:12-27