“For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 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." No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor. 12:14–26, NKJV)

A group of animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish and an eel. They formed a board of education and tried to create a curriculum.

The rabbit insisted that burrowing in the ground be in the curriculum. The fish insisted on swimming. The squirrel insisted that perpendicular tree climbing be included, and, of course, the bird wanted flying.

They put all of these courses together and wrote a curriculum guide. They insisted that all of the animals take all of the subjects.

Although the rabbit was getting an A in burrowing, perpendicular tree climbing was a real problem for him; he kept falling over backwards. Pretty soon he became brain damaged from all of these falls, and he couldn’t burrow as well anymore. He found that instead of making an A in burrowing, he slipped down to a C. And, he made an F in perpendicular tree climbing.

The bird was beautiful at flying, but when it came to burrowing in the ground, he couldn’t do it so well. He kept breaking his beak and wings. Pretty soon, he was making a C in flying as well as an F in burrowing. And he had a bad time with perpendicular tree climbing.

The squirrel was terrific at perpendicular tree climbing, but was so afraid of the water that he failed swimming.

The fish was the best in the swimming class, but when he tried to get out of the water to go to the other classes, he had major medical problems. It seems that he couldn’t breathe, so he failed all of the other classes.

The valedictorian of the class was a mentally challenged eel who did everything in a halfway fashion. But the teachers were happy because everybody was taking all of the subjects in their broad-based curriculum, and set the eel up as a standard for everyone else.

Are there any lessons here for us in the church today?