by Charlie Rogers

Do you ever stop to ask yourself, "Are you doing your part in the body of Christ to the full extent that you are able to do? Do you know what part you are called to in the body of Christ? Or, even better, do you even care?" Paul had this to say in;

Rom 12:3-8

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,

5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;

8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. NKJV

Paul is establishing that what he says, and what he does, is only done through the grace of God. Regardless of your call, no matter what part you play in the body of Christ, it is only done through God’s grace. Regardless of what part it is He called you to, He gave it to you; you did not give it to yourself. You did not call you. You are only going to accomplish what He has called you to by the grace of God. Not by the works of your flesh or by your soul, but by His grace. Paul also says each one of us has been given a measure of faith to accomplish this thing He has placed in our life.

He goes on and says we don’t all have the same function but each one a part or a different function. There is a reason that a different calling is placed in each one of us. It is to carry out God’s vision in this earth. What is that vision? That every person is saved and serving God, not one is lost and all reach the maturity or fullness in Christ. That is God’s desire, that’s how He sees it. The body of Christ has all these parts that play a part in fulfilling His vision. We sometimes get confused; we think it is our vision or our calling. But it is His vision, His calling; we just get filled with His vision, His calling, because we desire to please Him, because we love Him. Look at it this way, whether you believe it or not, a wife is called as man’s help mate. We the body of Christ are the bride of Christ, so we the body of Christ are God’s help mate. We are here on earth carrying out a part to fulfill His vision here on earth. Each person has part in this vision, your part is not the same as my part and my part is not the same as someone else’s.

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

Paul says we are given a measure of faith to carry out our call in the body, and regardless of the call, we are going to carry it out in proportion to the faith that we are using in that area. If you are called as one who exhorts the body with prophecy, then you will prophesy according to the faith that you walk in that area. If you are called to minister to the body, then you will accomplish it according to the faith that you walk in that area.

7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;

8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. NKJV

The same for someone who teaches, their teaching will only be effective as to the extent of the faith that they walk in. If you are called to that part in the body of Christ that provides or gives money to get the gospel out, you will only be able to give with liberality in accordance to the amount of faith that you walk in that area.

I believe you are seeing and understand what Paul is saying here. To accomplish more of God’s vision here on this earth every part of His body should be not only doing their part, but should also be doing it to the fullest extent that they are called to do it. We are each called to be as effective as possible in our part of His vision. The more faith we walk in, the more effective we are in our call. We need to receive all that He has called to. We need to become full of His calling. Why? Because we love Him!

Rom 5:1-2

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. NKJV

Now that we are saved and we have made peace with God, by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we should move on to doing our part in the body of Christ to accomplish what God wants to place in us and walk it out to the fullest extent. The only way that we will ever walk it out to the extent that God wants us to, is to walk in as much faith as possible, that our call may be effective as possible. Why is it that my calling is only effective to the extent of my faith? In verse two the word shows us that it is by faith that we access this grace that He has given us. What grace? The grace that started when you become a child of God, when you accepted Jesus as your Savior. It was by His grace that you were able to be saved, but it did not stop there, it continued on into you getting baptized by the Holy Spirit and receiving His Power. This grace continues even further into getting your needs met, healing for your body, and your calling, your part in His vision for mankind.

The more faith you have and walk in concerning your call no matter what He has called you to the more you access that grace that He gave you to be able to finish your call and be effective in the body of Christ.

Ask yourself, are you doing what you’re supposed to be doing and to what extent? Are you just playing around with your call? Another way might be to say, are you taking it serious? We each will have to stand before the Lord someday and account for what we have done and what we haven’t done, our life, our calling.