Walk This WayНамуна

"A Global Body"

Today’s devotional content comes from Oscar Muriu, Pastor of the Nairobi Chapel in Kenya. If the Apostle Paul were writing today, I wonder if 1 Corinthians 12 would have sounded a lot like this “global paraphrase.”

"Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the American church should say, “Because I am not an African, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the European church should say, “Because I am not an Asian, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.

If the whole body were German, where would the sense of vibrancy be? If the whole body were a European, where would the sense of color be? But, in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The American church cannot say to the Asian church, “I don’t need you!” And the European church cannot say to the African church, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, the Asian parts that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the African parts that we think are less honorable should be treated with special honor. And the Latin American parts that seem unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while the presentable parts like the big and wealthy American church need no special treatment.

But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

Walk in confidence and humility today, remembering that you are one part of a global body.