We Are the Body of Christ
Teri Anderson, Guest Writer
TODAY’S TREASURE
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ … The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable… If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together (1 Corinthians 12:12, 21-22,26).
Have you ever been badly injured or even lost a part of your body? Several years ago, I experienced the head saying to the feet, “I have no need of you.” For a couple of years, I got connective tissue mystery maladies that progressed from needing a cane to full use of a wheelchair. Moving from a foot to hips to chest and back down to toes, I learned that parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. An autoimmune disease was finally diagnosed and, for now, is controlled by daily medication. While doctors tried to solve the mystery, I felt like an observable parable of what Paul teaches here, my church family both suffering and rejoicing with me.
God tells us where to go to sustain and grow our faith: to HIM and His family. Gathering together as His Church is the God-ordained location where He strengthens us through the preaching of the Word, the observance of the sacraments, and the prayers of God’s people. God manifests Himself in His Word preached. Romans 10:17 explains, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” 2 Timothy 4:2 adds, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” God gives literal grace through His sacraments, the spiritual presence of Christ. God nourishes and feeds us; He communicates grace directly to us.
God also calls us to pray for each other, both individually and corporately.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him… (James 5:13-14).
In Enduring Hope, author Kelly Kapic notes, “God freely employs the faith of others, expressing itself through prayer, to sustain and uphold the faith of the suffering Christian. Faith is not simply the means through which a person becomes a Christian but also the essential matter of the Christian life. The wounded believer often depends on other saints to sustain them through seasons of suffering” (pg. 126). God tells us to put ourselves under these ordinary means of grace with His family, where He refreshes our faith in extraordinary ways.
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
But when we experience pain and suffering, don’t we tend to isolate ourselves? We can pull away not only from the grace God provides through preaching, sacraments, and prayer, but we also can pull away from each other, thinking, “I have no need of you.” However, Galatians 6:2 commands, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” God uses fellowship with God’s people in His Church to encourage and transform us (Hebrews 10:25). Bearing one another’s burdens might mean receiving assistance like I experienced during my medical mystery. Tangible burden-bearing arrived in the form of cooking, calling, transporting, visiting, and receiving encouraging cards. It could also mean babysitting, dog-walking, sewing masks, buying groceries, sharing toilet paper, or mourning a death. And sometimes, it means risking great loss as we hide the persecuted or walk beside others into danger. Whatever the situation, when we minister to each other, we are the body communing with God, united to Christ by the Holy Spirit.
As eyes, feet, hands, or any other part of the body in this word picture, we share each other’s gifts and graces (Ephesians 4:15-16) and deal with life’s messiness (1 Corinthians 13:6). God uses our adoption into His Body to refresh us and to grow our faith as we lament together, pray together, as we point each other to God (Ephesians 1:6) and to the Gospel (Titus 3:4).
PRAYER
Use the verses referenced in this devotion to give praise for God’s tender care of us both directly and through His people.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Teri Anderson and her husband, Mark, are members of Spring Meadows PCA in Las Vegas, NV. They have two adult “kids,” a son-in-law, & enjoy their 4-year-old granddaughter as often as possible! Teri taught high school English, Computer Technology, and Gifted Education before beginning her motherhood role & a resulting home-based Mary Kay Cosmetics business, becoming a “mompreneur “ before it was trendy! Currently, as an Independent Sales Director, she provides training and mentoring for women of all ages across the USA. In the volunteer world, she served several terms as a Women’s Advisor to the Board of Covenant College and as an Alpha Omicron Pi VP and International Board member. Locally, Teri has served on the Women’s Ministry Team and taught Sunday School and Bible Study. She has served as a PCA Women’s Ministry Trainer and retreat speaker since 2001.
For more from Daily Treasure please visit MARKINC.ORG.
Originally published Thursday, 27 October 2022.
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