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The Gallbladder Christian.

 Yes, that is a picture of a plush gallbladder. But I found it both cute and fitting for this post. The inspiration for this post actually came from a funny little cartoon I found on Pinterest. For those of you who have read my Pinterest Series, yes I do still surf Pinterest from time to time merely for a good laugh, but I still try to make it a practice to pin mostly those things that are useful and helpful.

The cartoon that follows is the inspiration for this post:
At first this cartoon gave me a good laugh, but then it made me think. The sign in the background especially grabbed my attention. "You have a purpose...maybe." When talking about literal organs, this is pretty funny, but isn't this exactly how many of us Christian's often feel?
  
"If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?" 

                                                                                                 -1 Corinthians 12:15-17

Many of us have heard that passage before, but my thoughts on that often were "Well, what if I'm not a foot, hand, eye, ear, etc? I mean those are all obviously important parts of the body. But what if I'm like the tonsils or something?" 

I think we often think like that. I mean obviously there are the heads, who lead the church, like John Piper and David Jeremiah. And there are the hands like Mother Teresa and Amy Carmichael. And there are the feet like Peter, Paul, and Gladys Aylward. And so on, and so on, and so on.

But I often think of myself like the wisdom teeth that sticks around to help the body until they 'grow wise,' and then I'm not needed anymore. Or like the gallbladder, who seems to cause more problems than I am worth. Or the tonsils, who nobody really knows what they are for, and often cause enough pain to get removed. Or the kidney, who can be easily removed or replaced. 

But the truth is that the gallbladder stores the bile that we need to process food. Without it other organs are left to store bile, and we get stomachaches and have to consume Pepto Bismol on a regular basis. The tonsils collect bacteria, keeping it from entering our bodies, and helping our immune system in the process. Without them we are more susceptible to diseases, especially the harmful/rare ones. And the kidneys, well they regulate the water in your body, remove waste, and regulate hormones. Without them we would all be like crazy people who would eventually explode because we had too much water in our system. And the wisdom teeth...well, yeah, I don't know why we need wisdom teeth. (Proof that I most definitely do not have an answer for everything). 

So though we may not be the hands who serve the church, or the feet who go and tell the good news, or the eyes that can see into a person's soul, and help them, we can be perfectly useful as the gallbladder Christian. We can prevent diseases in the body of Christ, regulate the hormones of the body, store the necessary ingredients for the body's health, and boost the immune system of the body. 

For all of you out there who can connect with this funny, but sadly true cartoon, remember that we are all members of the same body, and all have a unique purpose, and none is better than another. We all, through God's grace, are given gifts that are perfect for us and our strengths.


"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us..."              -Romans 12:4-6a

Comments

  1. maggie.danhakl@healthline.comAugust 14, 2014 at 9:34 AM

    Hi Hannah,

    Healthline.com recently launched a free interactive "Human Body Maps" tool. I thought your readers would be interested in our body map of the Gallbladder: http://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/gallbladder

    It would be much appreciated if you could include this tool on http://preparing4futurevalentine.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-gallbladder-christian.html and / or share with friends and followers. Please let me know if you have any questions.


    Thank you in advance.
    Warm Regards,

    Maggie Danhakl- Assistant Marketing Manager
    p: 415-281-3124 f: 415-281-3199

    Healthline Networks, Inc. * Connect to Better Health
    660 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 www.healthline.com

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