“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.” (Romans 12:3 NKJV)

Pride of position should never be given a place to reside within our hearts because just as you have been given “a measure of faith”, so also has every member received their own measure of faith. Thus we all have a purpose to fulfill within the Church, which means there isn’t a member among us who is either more or less important than another. For every son and daughter of God has a part to exercise in the body of Jesus Christ, to work together as a unit, and thus fulfill the objective of the Church, which is to build up and edify God’s people through the sharing of the gifts of the Spirit that have been freely given to us by God.

Unfortunately however, there are a number of people within the Church who neglect to allow certain members to exercise their gifts in this way. They refuse to acknowledge that each member possesses something from God to contribute to the Cause of heralding the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Thus they give some the impression that their role within the Church is merely to sit back and listen to their instructions and feed the collection plate as it is passed along from one member to another during the worship service.

By behaving in this way these people do not fulfill their purpose in Christ within the Church, which is to encourage each member who belongs to the body of Christ to participate in serving one another with the gifts of the Spirit. What they are doing however, is suppressing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by putting the lamps of some underneath a basket, and they are therefore hindering the growth of the Church. Indeed, we should never give any member the impression that they have no place within God’s Church to carry out the work of Jesus Christ, nor should we ever suggest that any member’s contribution to this holy work is not as important as someone else’s.

With that said, unite with your brothers and sisters in Christ; work together to serve the same purpose in building up and edifying God’s people. Moreover, encourage those who have been treated as though they aren’t important to join you in this effort. Until we work together as a unit in the name of Jesus Christ, esteeming each other’s measure of faith in God as just as important to the functionality of the body as any other, we won’t achieve God’s objective for His Church. But when we become one in spirit and in truth, we will witness the power and outpouring of the Holy Spirit as never before, and thereby reap a harvest of blessings as we blossom into something wonderful for Christ!

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