The Body of Christ can be compared to a hospital. When a man is sick and goes to a hospital, the hospital has various departments to help him. Perhaps he needs an injection, or physiotherapy, or surgery. He may need to visit the eye doctor or the ear doctor. So the hospital has various departments. The eye doctor spends all his time just looking at people's eyes and nothing else. That's not because he feels that other parts of the human body are unimportant, but because his speciality is the eye.

In the Body of Christ too, each believer has a different gift and calling. And each one is imbalanced by himself. The only perfectly balanced person Who ever walked on this earth was the Lord Jesus Christ. All the rest of us - even the best among us - are imbalanced. We can find our balance only as we work together with other brothers and sisters - with the other departments in the Lord's hospital. So there's no place for individualism in this hospital!

A good hospital will have many departments to cater to the various needs of people. In the same way, the Body of Christ too has a variety of ministries and many spiritual gifts to help people. No church or group has all the gifts of the Spirit. But in the total body of Christ, they are all there.

We must know what our own specific calling in the Body is.

The world is full of spiritually sick people. And nobody's case is hopeless. Everyone can be fully healed by the Lord. This is the good news of the gospel that we proclaim. The worst sinner and the most perverted person can find healing in the Lord's hospital. A good hospital will never turn away a seriously sick person. Inferior hospitals do that because they are not equipped to handle serious cases. In the same way, a good church will never tell even the greatest sinner in the world that his case is hopeless! A good church will be able to change the worst of sinners into the greatest of saints - if the sinner is willing to take the treatment given.

We can compare the church to a human body too. In the human body, each part has a function; and that part concentrates on fulfilling its own function alone. But it appreciates, values and cooperates with the other parts that have different functions. That's how it must be when we work together with other ministries in the Body of Christ too.

In 1 Corinthians 12, the Holy Spirit uses the example of eyes, ears, hands and feet to picture the way the gifts of the Spirit are exercised in the body of Christ.

The stomach values the hand highly, but it never tries to do what the hand does. For example, it never tries to pick up food from a plate. It allows the hand to do that and then does its own job of digesting the food that the hand picks up and sends down to it! That's a picture of how we complement each other in Christ's Body.

Most believers haven't seen this truth of the variety of ministries in the Body. But if you don't see this truth, you'll never be able to fulfil all that God wants to accomplish.

No prophet in the Old Testament was ever balanced in his ministry. Only diplomatic preachers seek to be "balanced". The prophets were all imbalanced. They kept stressing the same thing over and over again - because that was the need of Israel or Judah in their generation - and that was what God laid on their hearts as a burden.

It's good for all of us to be clear in our own minds as to what God has called us to. 

The burden the Lord gives us in our hearts is usually an indication of the ministry He has for us in His Body.

I'm not saying that all of us can know, as soon as we begin serving the Lord, what our gift and calling is. It took me about 15 years after I was born again, before I was clear as to what my ministry was. It may not take that long for you. It may take much less. You'll have to leave the timing with God. But you must understand this clearly that you have a distinct and unique ministry in Christ's Body that no-one else can fulfil. And that ministry will never be a balanced one. It will be imbalanced. You'll have to find your balance by working in fellowship with others who have different ministries in the Body. That's the way God keeps us humble - by making us dependent on others. Praise the Lord!