The Body

The passage today is long, so I won’t quote it all here.  But you can place your pointer over the reference to read it. 

1 Cor 12:14-26 is a very familiar passage.  It is often preached and taught to try to stir people to action.  Pew warming isn’t Biblical!  Be an active part of the body!  The minority of church members do the majority of the work!  Let’s change that!  Let’s share the load equally!  Let’s be a unified body!

I can rattle off all of the things (besides being the pastor’s wife) that I do as part of the body.  I’m not a pew-warmer.  I am an active participant.  Those were the thoughts running through my mind before I even began to read this morning.  I knew the passage.  I knew what it said.  And, to be honest, I didn’t want to read that rut into it again.  So I prayed for an open heart, eyes, and ears. 

In all honesty, it opened more questions for me than answers.  But, one thing I did feel convicted of was this: my attitude.   As I read this familiar passage again this morning, I realized that how we view one another in the body is more “the point” than how active or inactive we are as individuals.  What is my attitude toward other members of the body?  Am I a member who encourages and motivates each member to have the courage to fulfill their role  or do I doubt their capabilities?   Do I draw out the gifts of others or does my presence and attitude lead them to believe they will never measure up to some unseen standard?  Do I really even see capabilities in others or do I just see where they are now and decide in my mind that that’s where they’ll stay? 

Being a part of the body of Christ, local or universal, is not about working the hardest.  It’s about working in unity.  And that just might take a bit of an attitude adjustment on my part.  My prayer is to receive and follow the Lord’s leadership regarding the adjustments I need to make, and my challenge is to take action to make those adjustments.