1 Corinthians 12:19-25
Pull a sheet of scratch paper out of your memory bank and see how well you do with the following questions:
• Who taught Martin Luther his theology and inspired his translation of the New Testament?
• Who visited with Dwight L. Moody at a shoe store and spoke to him about Christ?
• Who was the wife of Charles Haddon Spurgeon?
• Who was the elderly woman who prayed faithfully for Billy Graham for over 20 years?
• Who helped Charles Wesley get underway as a composer of hymns?
• Who were the parents of the godly and gifted prophet Daniel?
OK, how'd you do? Before you excuse your inability to answer these questions by calling the quiz "trivia," better stop and think. Had it not been for such unknown persons—such "nobodies"—a huge chunk of church history would be missing. And a lot of lives would have been untouched.
Nobodies. What a necessary band of men and women...servants of the King...yet nameless in the kingdom! Men and women who, with silent heroism and faithful diligence, relinquish the limelight and live in the shade of public figures.
As Jim Elliot, martyred messenger of the gospel to the Aucas once remarked: "Missionaries are a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody."
Praise God! We're among that elite group mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12: "And some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary.... So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important" (vv. 22, 24 TLB).
If it weren't for the heroic "nobodies," we wouldn't have any sound or lights or heat or air conditioning in our churches next Sunday. We wouldn't have homes in which high schoolers can meet on Sunday nights to sing and share. We wouldn't have church staff and officers and teachers working together behind the scenes.
Nobodies...exalting Somebody.
Are you playing a behind-the-scenes role? Thank God for giving you that opportunity.
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Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.