Even the Pinky Toe…

Take just a moment to look at your foot. No, not with your shoes on – a la natural – you see that stubby little member on the outside? I call him the pinky toe. Others (likely more correctly) call him the little toe.

So what’s the deal with this little guy? He seems to not be all that useful. After all, he’s so small. Some people have one that even hides underneath their other toes. A few others don’t even have a nail on that toe. Many scientists claims that he is a vestigial organ, that his day has passed. In other words, they look at him and don’t see what he is, but what he might have once been.

You know, if he’s not all that useful, why don’t we just remove him? After all, that’s why we have all the other toes! We can live without him, right?

In an article on National Geographic’s website, Jeffrey Laitman, director of anatomy and functional morphology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine said the following about removing vestigial organs:

“History is littered with body parts that were called "useless" simply because medical science had yet to understand them.

People say, You can remove it and still live. But you have to be careful with that logic. You could remove your left leg and still live. But whenever a body part is moved or changed, there's a price to pay."

Let’s just say that you took a hatchet and lopped that little toe off. Would you live? Yes. Would you be able to carry on about your day with “business as usual?” Of course not. Despite the harm to the rest of your foot, it would at least permanently change the way that you walk. Your balance would never be quite what it was. The whole body would be affected!

When it comes to another body, the body of Christ, Paul expresses the same sentiment. In 1 Corinthians 12 he begins writing about how the church is composed up of individual members, but yet these individual members (people) all make up the entire body (verse 14). In fact, he goes to great lengths to show how God has a purpose for every part of the body, whether it be our physical bodies or his design for the church (cf. Colossians 1:18):

1 Corinthians 12:17–19 (NKJV)

¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? ¹⁸ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. ¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

He goes on to write this:

1 Corinthians 12:21–22 (NKJV)

²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

Sometimes it’s easy to lament being one of the “faithful few.” While it’s true that there’s often a “core group” that seems to “do everything” within a congregation, this perspective sometimes breeds an attitude of contempt for the lesser parts. That’s the I can do it without you attitude.

Ask yourself the following:

Question #1: Is the congregation where you worship and work hobbling along?

Question #2: Have you taken the time to get to know what your “lesser members” can do? After all, God says that they are necessary.

Question #3: Have you taken the time to express to them their importance, and what opportunities they have to do things, even if they aren’t “high visibility” works? Maybe you need to take time to understand what they can do to serve, as well has helping them understand what they can do. Don’t just write them off, or lop them off the body of Christ because they aren’t like you!

Don’t forget about the little toes!

~Daniel Howell

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090730-spleen-vestigial-organs_2.html