Issue 17 - Day 1

1 Corinthians 12

1 Corinthians 12:24-27
24)  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
25)  That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26)  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27)  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

One of the hardest things to understand, and even harder to implement, is the manner in which the church is a body. In the eighties a lot of church teaching went into moving Christians from their traditional understanding of church as the building, to seeing the church as the people. As such we have now gone too far the other way and forget we have a building so we can meet together as a body. The church is the people, but it is also a body which needs to be together. If you are never meeting with the rest of the body, it is very difficult to play your part in the body.

Paul reminds us that we are to suffer together, and rejoice together. To do that we have to be together, and we have to communicate. God has given us each other, and the weak more so that the strong. He has done this specifically so that we can be united, and care the same for everyone. When it comes to spiritual things there are no spiritual giants, even if we think so. In the Old Testament we read of one time when the king wanted to know what God was saying. He did not send for the high priest, as we may do, instead he called the temple launderette! This lady was low in the natural order of things, but known to be praying.
Pray for one another, communicate with each other, and spend more time together. We are a body, so let God form us the way he wants.