Everyone Has a Role to Play

Note from today’s Bible reading: 1 Chronicles 7-10

The book of 1 Chronicles contains many lists of names, including genealogies. These are easy for Bible readers to skim over or skip altogether. Yet they can provide some important lessons for us.

In 1 Chronicles 9, there is a list of the families of the Levites and the roles they were given (1 Chronicles 9:17-34). Some would serve as gatekeepers. Others would be responsible for various items – furniture and utensils – related to the tabernacle. Others would mix spices or handle the baking. Others were singers. Every role was important, and each was assigned to a particular family within the tribe of Levi.

Though we are not under the same law today, this does foreshadow the Lord’s church and the fact that each one of us can contribute to the functioning of the body. Paul told the brethren in Corinth that each member of the body was significant and necessary (1 Corinthians 12:14-27). He told the church in Ephesus that growth happens due to the “proper working of each individual part” (Ephesians 4:16).

So remember that everyone has a role to play. Let us not neglect our responsibility to contribute to the cause of Christ by being tempted to think that what others do is more important than anything we can do. There is work for all of us in the Lord’s kingdom, so let us be diligent in the ways that we can contribute.