We Are One Body

 I was working in the yard today when I got a bad itch in my back that I couldn’t reach. I said in jest that it seemed like a design flaw that there were places we couldn’t reach. I got an answer back immediately that it showed that we were not to make it on our own, that we needed the help of others.

 

The Christian life is not designed to be lived in isolation. This is not to say that an individual cannot be called by God to separate themselves for ministry, only that this is not the norm. We are part of the Body of Christ. We are interdependent, none of us has all of the gifts and talents that we need for the work that is set before us. “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Rm 12:4-5).

 

We are called as Christians to minister to others. What we sometimes forget is that we are also called to be ministered to by others.  God uses our brothers and sisters to bless us and show us His love and to help make us into the people He calls us to be.  We need to be freely open to their aid and not try to let our cultural bias towards independence lead us to be Lone Rangers.

 

I’m reminded of the Christian song, “We Are One Body”.  I love the chorus which begins, “We are one body, one body in Christ. And we do not stand alone.” It’s good to be reminded that Jesus always stands with us and that our Christian brothers and sisters do as well.