One Sunday after church our pastor asked my husband and I if we could give a ride home to Alex. Alex was a gentleman who was relatively new to our church. Neither my husband or I knew him all that well so we happily agreed to take him home, seeing it as a great opportunity to get to know him better.

As we drove along, I began asking Alex some questions about himself. He told us about where he was from, how he’d arrived in our city and also about his family. At some point, he began talking about his father who was now deceased. Alex shared that his father had worked in the coal mines of West Virginia for most of his life. Later, when he’d needed disability, his company had refused to give it to him. For five years his father fought, until finally he received disability. After such a grueling fight, he said to his son, “Remember, no matter how hard you work, you’re always replaceable.”

His words reminded me of something my husband had said. I’d been wanting him to ask for vacation but he was unwilling to do it with the tough economic times and so many people in his field out of work. “But your employer is always telling you what a good worker you are,” I said. My husband shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. There are plenty of other guys lined up to take my spot, and in their mind, we’re all the same.”

This idea made me stop and think. In the world, we are replaceable. There will always be someone else who can come and fill our spot – whether we are the CEO of a company, a professional athlete or a construction worker. But in God’s kingdom, it’s not like that. In God’s kingdom, no one is replaceable. Everyone has value and a unique role that only they can play, and without their contribution something is missing. Paul spends a lot of time elaborating on this in his letter to the Corinthians. He describes the church as the body of Christ and talks about how each body part has an important function. Without any of the parts, the body could not function properly. In other words, no part is replaceable. Each one is necessary and given a special function.

Each of us struggles with wanting to feel significant – like we matter. If we seek this significance in the world – through our job – we will come up feeling empty. If instead, we seek our significance in Christ alone, we will come out feeling satisfied. Because we know that to God we are irreplaceable.