One of the wonderful things about our Lord, when He walked on earth, was that even though He was perfect and superior to everyone else, He moved among men as their equal. This is how we are called to live too. Jesus lived as a man needing the fellowship of other men. He turned to Peter, James and John in the garden of Gethsemane and said, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me" (Matt. 26; 38). He, the Son of God, needed the prayer-fellowship of His imperfect disciples.

Yet how many of us are self-sufficient! We ignore weaker members of the Body thinking that we do not need them. We only betray our spiritual poverty and blindness by such an attitude. For remember, the Bible says, "Some of the parts (of the body) that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary" (1 Cor. 12:22-TLB).

The internal organs of our physical body, like the heart and the liver, are never seen by anyone; yet they have vital functions to perform. So too in the Body of Christ. Some who do not have any public ministry, and who are unknown, are really most necessary.

The Bible says that even the Head (Christ) does not say to the feet (the least and lowest members in the body), "I don't need you" (1 Cor. 12:21). How much less can we do without even the weakest and least-gifted of our fellow- believers. They have something to minister to us of Christ. So we should listen to them. If we ignore or despise them, we shall in that measure, deprive ourselves of the fullness of Christ.

Fellowship is always a two-way matter. There is giving and receiving. Those of us who have ability in the ministry of the Word often feel that others should always listen to us, because we feel we have something to give them. Even in conversation, we tend to dominate the scene, so that our brother hardly gets a chance to say a word. When he does have a chance to say something, we impatiently wait for him to finish, so that we can start preaching to him again. How self-important we are.

The Bible says, "Let everyone (preachers included) be quick to hear (and) slow to speak" (James. 1:19). We need to educate ourselves in the art of listening to others. After all, God has given us two ears and only one mouth! And as someone has said, "God has given us ears that are always open and a mouth that shuts"! So, our prayer should be:

"Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff, And nudge me when I've said enough."

We need to listen to one another. We need each other's help. No member of the Body is self-sufficient.