“And God appointed in the church…helpers” (1 Corinthians 12:28).

God appointed in the church some very impressive folks. Just go down the list and see for yourself: apostles, prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, healers, administrators and speakers in various kinds of tongues. There’s a certain glamour and sheen to be found in each of these words. They are folks to be looked up to and respected because of the gifts God has given them.

But right in the middle of such distinguished company the Lord saw the need for “helpers.” And maybe that’s where I can fit in. If so, I will be rubbing shoulders with some very elite folks in God’s scheme of things.

I think of some helpers in the first century. There was Dorcas who sewed and ministered to practical human needs. There were four men who let the paralytic down through the roof of a house so that Jesus might heal him. And there were those who held the rope so Paul could slide down the outside of the city wall in a basket and escape those seeking to kill him. Apollos is said to have greatly helped those who through grace had believed. Timothy and Erastus are both called helpers of the apostle Paul, and Paul says of Phoebe that she was a helper of many, and of himself as well. I even read of some who helped by praying (surely something all of us can do). And who can forget those ladies who worked side by side with Paul, “whose names are in the book of life”?

There’s a place in the Kingdom for you and for me. We can all belong to the “Honorable Order of Helpers!” Remember the words of Paul to Titus, “And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful” (Titus 1:14).