Needed

Needed: to have to have something or want something very much (dictionary.cambridge.org).

Every member of the body is needed. Every person has a role. Too often, it isn’t until that member or person is missing that we realize how important they are.

Background Story

It was mid-February. I was in Nashville, TN, for the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. I’d been under the weather the week before going, so packing and driving there were done under a small amount of duress. That should’ve been the first sign something could go wrong.

I checked into my hotel after a five hour drive, registered for the conference, and settled into my hotel room thinking I’d managed rather well under the circumstances. And that should’ve been the second sign something could go awry.

I changed into sweats and a t-shirt, ready for sleep.

Last summer I was told I had glaucoma in one eye and need to put a drop in each eye for the rest of my life. Being my age, that might not be all that long, but still. Who likes being told your eye has a problem?

Wanting to keep my sight the best I can, I follow the doctor’s orders. So I took a fresh bottle of eyedrops with me on my trip to be sure I had plenty. I was prepared.

Then I tried to open the bottle.

If you’ve never had to open a new bottle of eye medicine, it may seem odd for me to say they are hard to open. My problem? I forgot how hard it is.

When I’m home, I’ve used rubber jar openers to hold the top and bottom of the eye drop bottle so I can get enough grip to pressure the top off. But I was at a hotel. Options were limited.

Solution

You would have thought I was on my last meal and desperate for what was in that bottle. I worked with my right thumb and index finger over and over, forgetting the definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results!

I tried my teeth. That was a definite no-go.

I found two large rubber bands and put one on the top and one on the bottom, hoping for a little better grip. Again, nothing.

Prayer at the start would have been helpful. Because when I did, it hit me, maybe the receptionist downstairs would be able to open the bottle for me.

Not caring how I looked, only wanting my eye medicine bottle usable, I scurried downstairs and my hoped for advocate was sitting at a table watching a video.

While I had tried and tried, to no avail, this man took my little bottle, his hands much bigger than mine, and in one easy move, twisted the top loose.

Praise the Lord! I had my eye drops. And a reminder to self to find a bottle opener, fit for these tiny bottles, to always have on hand.

A New Problem

After I put the bottle away and finished preparing for sleep, I noticed my finger hurt. Every time I washed my hands it stung. And for the next many days, I had a constant reminder of my effort to open the bottle. My need for what was in the bottle was so great, I evidently wore the skin off a part of my index finger trying to get the bottle open. I had no idea the part of my finger which gripped the bottle top is used a lot. When I open jars or turn keys in locks or pick up items with that hand, I hit that same tiny spot of skin. For days, every time I hit that portion of my finger, I winced.

I covered the injured area with a bandaid for several days. I wanted to protect the part of my body that was injured.

If someone looked at my finger, they might figure me a whimp. How could such a small injury create so much trouble?

The problem was, that part of my finger is much more valuable than I ever would have known had I not hurt it. Until it was unavailable for use, I didn’t know how often that small portion of skin is needed.

Every One Has a Role

Just like every part of my body is needed, including the skin cells that cover me, each of us individuals is needed in the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us how God has us designed.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Our Creator is not haphazard. He creates with intent and purpose. And joy. When He made each of us, He had a plan in mind. A purpose for which we were designed. Perfectly created for His use and His glory.

My finger has many uses. But the skin on that finger has one purpose. Protect that finger. It took the brunt of my working it over and over again trying to open a rough bottle top, all to protect the skin, muscle, and bone underneath it. It paid a price for doing it’s job. But it did it. And did it well.

What about us? Do we know our purpose? Are we willing to let God use us for the reason for which He made us?

Esther, Our Example

One well-known Biblical example of someone created for a purpose is Esther. We read her story and are in awe how God used a young Jewish girl to save her nation. But she had to decide first if she was willing to allow God to use her for the good work He wanted to do through her.

Haman, an evil, self-righteous, jealous, pompous Persian, wanted all Jews killed because he hated the one man he couldn’t touch otherwise. Mordecai had come into the good graces of King Ahasuerus. But Mordecai refused to bow to Haman, the king’s right-hand man, as Haman wanted. Since he couldn’t simply say, “off with his head,” he came up with a plan to persuade the king to allow the genocide of Haman’s people group, the Jews.

In two days the Jewish people will celebrate Purim this year. Purim is the annual commemoration of God’s protection of the Jewish people in ancient Persia when Haman tried to have them extinguished. God used Esther to bring about that protection.

We don’t all have the same role as Queen Esther. But we do each have a part in God’s plan. A place of purpose in His grand design. A reason for being.

The skin on my finger plays one role for my body. My thumb plays a different role. My foot and elbow and heart and lungs all have their own reason for belonging in God’s creation of me. In the same way, each of us is important. Needed. Wanted. For the work God has designed for us before we were born.

Our Callings Are Varied

While we all have a calling, not each of our callings is the same. God works as He will with each of us. Are we willing to yield to His design for us? There’s no need to compare ourselves with another. God has a specific purpose for each of us. His desire is that we find joy in the calling He has for us and that we not worry about our purpose being different than someone else’s reason for being.

In Luke 8 we read a story about Jesus healing a man filled with a legion of demons. When the man was freed and in his right mind, he begged Jesus to let him go with Him. Instead, Jesus told the man, “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you” (Luke 8:39). 

But then in Matthew 9, we watch Jesus call someone to follow him, someone who wasn’t begging to go with him.

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9).

Why did Jesus do that? Wouldn’t it seem to us the one who wanted to walk with Jesus should have been allowed to stay?

Thankfully, it’s not my role to question why God chooses one for a particular service and another to do something else. He is the Creator. He has made each of us “for good works…that we should walk in them.” And I’m grateful to be one cog in the grand wheel of God’s design.

Today’s Connection

Today we watched the battle kick into high gear between Iran, which in ancient times was Persia, and Israel, where the Jews have their homeland. Rocket fire is intense. God’s enemies still wish to annihilate the Jews. The fact so many kings and leaders have wanted to do away with this one people group and yet it has survived, should speak to our hearts and minds. God chooses according to His plan. He chose the Jewish people for Himself. He used them through whom to bring the Messiah. And the Jewish Messiah is the Savior for all mankind, Jews and Gentiles alike.

It’s not our place to tell God He cannot choose whom He will for the roles for which He chooses them. It’s our place to trust our Creator in His choices and decisions. And be glad He has allowed us to be a part of His plan.

For now, I look at the scenario playing out in our lifetime, and I’m grateful God is in charge and not me.

I also think in terms of this one nugget of truth, each person has a role in God’s plan. Leaders of nations make military plans. Military personnel with different talents work together to carry out those plans. In the same way, the Almighty has plans. And each of us is created with talents and gifts to allow us to work together with others to fulfill His purposes. Each of us is needed as a part of His plan.

Our Creator is Sovereign. And He is good. We are here for such a time as this. We may not be Esther, Matthew, or a person radically saved from being possessed by a legion of demons. But we each are made in the Father’s image. And He has created us so that we are perfect for the work He wants to do through us.

May we each find our calling. May we walk in the good works for which we are called. And may we praise the name of the One Who made us while we work and live, until He calls us Home and beyond.

NOTE: If you enjoyed this post, you also may enjoy reading an earlier post titled, God’s Ways. God bless you as you go.

(Scripture: New King James Version; Photos: Taken by Carolyn Thigpen, February 2026, Georgia)