Ouch!

Ouch!

            Shortly before Christmas my daughter sent me a picture text (and posted on Facebook!) a picture of a badly bruised toe, with the message, “What shall I do?”  Obviously that toe was affecting her well-being!

            A few days ago my hip hurt so much that I limped and hobbled along.  I longed to walk without discomfort.

            I have been dealing with pain with two different teeth for almost two months now.  It does not just hurt when I am eating.  I hurt all the time.

            So what is the point?  Pain in just one part of the body affects my whole body.  My whole body suffers when just one part of the body is in pain.

            So what is the point?  We are all part of the body of Christ and when one part of the body is hurting, we all hurt.  II Corinthians 12 addresses the issue, beginning in verse 12.

            “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, are one body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.  For the body is not one member, but many.  If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.  And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?  If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body just as He deserved.  And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body.  And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 

            On the contrary, It is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on those we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness, whereas our seemly members have no need of it.  But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to the member which lacked, that there should be no division 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; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.  Now you are Christ’s body, and individual members of it.”

            I am still studying this passage.  I don’t know exactly how all this should affect my life.  I don’t even understand the passage fully, but I know that we are all members of the body of Christ.  And if we are all members of the same body, why are we not acting like it?  Do we feel like we are one?  Do we hurt when another hurts?  Do we rejoice when another rejoices?  Do we even know what is going on in another part of the body?  Does one part of the body abuse another?  (It happens in a physical body when there is a “cutter,” one who wounds his or her own body in an attempt to distract from inward pain.  Do we wound others to protect ourselves from pain?)  We generally protect and guard our bodies from harm.  Shouldn’t we protect and guard the other members of the body of Christ?

            We are a part of the universal church, those who are also part of Christ’s body, wherever they are.  We should be one with them.  But we also are part of the body of Christ within Grace Baptist Church.  What should be our relationship with these members?  Do we function as a body?  Within our local body are members who feel that they don’t matter; they are a very insignificant part of the body.  If we are honest, I suspect that there are many times that each of us feels insignificant.   Every one of us at times feels our “invisibility,” our isolation.  How can we overcome this?  How can we have a healthy body?

            How can we heal the body?  How can we help every member to recognize their value to us as a church?  How can we be a healthy body?  You tell me.  What can you do to bring the body of Christ and the local body of our church to good health?

            Could we learn to look past the “I’m fine,” automatic response to “How are you?”  Could we look for the lonely?  Could we find another time to visit with those we are close to and instead reach out to someone we don’t know?  Could we invite someone new to our homes or our gatherings?  What about those who are visiting?  Can we make them feel truly welcome?  What about those who disappear from our Sunday school classes, from our pews?  Could we find out why they are missing?  Could we reach out to those who are hurting with an “I am sorry you are hurting,” rather than trying to fix them, preach to them, show them why they are responding improperly?

            I don’t have all the answers, but I know I want answers, not just to know, but to implement.  I want to be part of a healthy body.  I don’t want to know about a bruised toe, without answering the question, “What should I do to make that bruised toe better?”

                                                                                    ~~Faith Himes Lamb