It’s the smallest of things - a little screw no more than an eighth of an inch long. But oh, how important it is! If you don’t believe me, just try being utterly dependent upon your eyeglasses, and then losing this little screw that holds the metal frame around the lens.
This happened to me recently when I went to remove my glasses, and the right lens literally fell out of the frame between the split second of time after they left my head and before reached the table top. Upon examination, I discovered that the little screw atop the right side of my glasses was missing. And as I was soon to learn, no amount of finagling on my part was going to solve the problem. All I could do was take them back to where I got them and have them repaired right.
As I have reflected on this brief experience, I have been reminded that some of the smallest parts can often be the most critical. For instance, I remember reading something in a book by James Robison titled Living Amazed about the three smallest bones in the human body.
According to Robison, these bones are found in the middle ear, and are called the malleus, incus, and stapes, but are perhaps more commonly known as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. He writes: “The hammer is arranged so that one end is attached to the eardrum, while the other end forms a lever-like hinge with the anvil. The opposite end of the anvil is fused with the stirrup (so anvil and stirrup act as one bone).”
Known collectively as the middle ear “ossicles”, the three bones work together in obscurity, completely invisible to the outside world. Yet, they are absolutely essential to our ability to hear. Without them, only 0.1 percent of the sound energy that hits the eardrum would be transferred to the inner ear. But because God has arranged these tiny parts in a way that maximizes their leverage, they produce a sonic effect far beyond their diminutive size.
Robinson then points out that, just as the human body has no insignificant parts, the body of Christ has no small or unimportant members. We all have a sphere of influence - however large or small, however visible or invisible - and we all have a vital role to play in God's plan for redeeming and restoring the world.
Thus, we may be as well-hidden as a bone in the inner ear, an internal organ, or a foot inside a shoe, but every person is absolutely essential to the eternal purpose of Almighty God. As the Apostle Paul puts it in his First New Testament Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 12, verses 18-22):
“But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’ The head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you.’ In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.”
Wow! Certain parts of the body that seem the weakest are actually the most necessary. In like manner, I’m thankful for the three little bones inside both my left and right inner ears! Without them, I could not hear correctly. Nor could I walk correctly, as the inner ear helps to give my body balance and steadiness!
And when those times roll around, as they sometimes do, that I feel like I do not have much of an impact on the body of Christ, or its purposes, I think about the bones of my inner ear. For, just like the minuscule little screws that hold my eyeglasses together, they are indispensable to the effective working of my senses.
Moreover, while I may not always be aware of the significance of my contribution, the Lord always is; and this fact alone makes the part I play indispensable and worthwhile!
BOOK SOURCE: James Robison, Living Amazed: How Divine Encounters Can Change Your Life (Grand Rapids: Revell Publishing, 2017), pages 203-204.
NOTE: As a quick Google image search will show, all three of these little bones can fit neatly on a dime coin, looking as they do like three little chicken wings on a large plate!
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/nlt/1_corinthians/12.htm.
This happened to me recently when I went to remove my glasses, and the right lens literally fell out of the frame between the split second of time after they left my head and before reached the table top. Upon examination, I discovered that the little screw atop the right side of my glasses was missing. And as I was soon to learn, no amount of finagling on my part was going to solve the problem. All I could do was take them back to where I got them and have them repaired right.
As I have reflected on this brief experience, I have been reminded that some of the smallest parts can often be the most critical. For instance, I remember reading something in a book by James Robison titled Living Amazed about the three smallest bones in the human body.
According to Robison, these bones are found in the middle ear, and are called the malleus, incus, and stapes, but are perhaps more commonly known as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. He writes: “The hammer is arranged so that one end is attached to the eardrum, while the other end forms a lever-like hinge with the anvil. The opposite end of the anvil is fused with the stirrup (so anvil and stirrup act as one bone).”
Known collectively as the middle ear “ossicles”, the three bones work together in obscurity, completely invisible to the outside world. Yet, they are absolutely essential to our ability to hear. Without them, only 0.1 percent of the sound energy that hits the eardrum would be transferred to the inner ear. But because God has arranged these tiny parts in a way that maximizes their leverage, they produce a sonic effect far beyond their diminutive size.
Robinson then points out that, just as the human body has no insignificant parts, the body of Christ has no small or unimportant members. We all have a sphere of influence - however large or small, however visible or invisible - and we all have a vital role to play in God's plan for redeeming and restoring the world.
Thus, we may be as well-hidden as a bone in the inner ear, an internal organ, or a foot inside a shoe, but every person is absolutely essential to the eternal purpose of Almighty God. As the Apostle Paul puts it in his First New Testament Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 12, verses 18-22):
“But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’ The head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you.’ In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.”
Wow! Certain parts of the body that seem the weakest are actually the most necessary. In like manner, I’m thankful for the three little bones inside both my left and right inner ears! Without them, I could not hear correctly. Nor could I walk correctly, as the inner ear helps to give my body balance and steadiness!
And when those times roll around, as they sometimes do, that I feel like I do not have much of an impact on the body of Christ, or its purposes, I think about the bones of my inner ear. For, just like the minuscule little screws that hold my eyeglasses together, they are indispensable to the effective working of my senses.
Moreover, while I may not always be aware of the significance of my contribution, the Lord always is; and this fact alone makes the part I play indispensable and worthwhile!
BOOK SOURCE: James Robison, Living Amazed: How Divine Encounters Can Change Your Life (Grand Rapids: Revell Publishing, 2017), pages 203-204.
NOTE: As a quick Google image search will show, all three of these little bones can fit neatly on a dime coin, looking as they do like three little chicken wings on a large plate!
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/nlt/1_corinthians/12.htm.