Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
—Romans 12:4-5
One of the key realities of Christianity is belonging. I belong! I belong to God. I belong to Jesus. I belong to Jesus' body, the Church. I have a place and a purpose in that body. I belong! I am needed! I have a job to do! I belong!!
Paul is describing how living sacrifices live. He has urged Christians—all who have received God's mercy because of their faith in Christ—to offer their everyday lives to God as an ongoing act of worship. Previous verses clarified that this would require a transformation of our minds and perspectives to see and understand what God wants and be used by Him to get it done.
Now, though, Paul begins to understand our specific jobs in this sacrificial lifestyle. It turns out that God's purpose for Christians is that we will spend our lives serving each other in particular ways. His analogy here applies broadly to each local congregation and includes the worldwide church.
Paul uses the familiar analogy of a human body, something he develops in more detail in 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bodies are a unified whole containing one person. But that unified body comprises many parts that serve wildly different functions from head to toe. Paul will show in the following verses that the church, meaning all Christians, is similar in that we are the body of Christ.
PLEASE PRAY WITH ME: Help me, Father, to find the place where you made me fit into Jesus' body, the Church. Until I know my exact place to serve and use my gifts, I pledge to work in all sorts of ministries so that your Spirit, and not just my own preference, will guide me into your place for me to serve. Thank you for giving me a place to belong and do and be a part of Jesus' bodily presence in the world. In Jesus' name, I pray. AMEN.