Thursday, December 6, 2018

Sore Foot, Sore Body

"And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it."
1 Corinthians 12:26 (NKJV)

For most of my life I have been a runner.  Several years ago, I stubbed my little left toe pretty badly, it was painful and made me stop running for a while.  When my toe improved, I started running again.  As I ran, I noticed some pain in my toe, but I also noticed some pain in my left calf, my left knee, and in my left hip.  I thought this was very strange and had to slow down because of it.  Then I realized what was happening; my body was trying to compensate for my injured toe.  But, because of trying to compensate for one problem it was actually creating other problems.  The solution was that I had to just rest my toe until it healed so I could start running again.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the Body of Christ to the natural body.  Paul shows how the entire body needs to work together and that what affects one part of the body will have an impact on the rest of the body; this is true of our natural body and the Body of Christ.  In Ephesians 4:16, Paul talks about how every part of the Body of Christ has a supply that it should give to the Body.  The problem is that when one part of the Body of Christ is not functioning properly or is hurt, like my little toe was, then the whole Body will suffer because of it. 

Just like the physical body, the Body of Christ will try to compensate for the injured part, which is good and should happen.  We are interconnected as believers and need to support one another.  But, like with the physical body, if other parts of the Body of Christ are trying to compensate for another part then more problems can develop.  Every part of the Body of Christ, world-wide and locally, needs to be healthy and strong, doing its part in fulfilling the will of God.  Our goal as believers should be to find our place in the Body, stay connected to our local church and give our supply; that way the whole Body will be strong and do great things for God!

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