27You are Christ's body—that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything. (The Message)
We often think that Paul's words are hard to accept. The things he says about dying to sin, being willing to suffer, etc. go against many of the things that we assume are what we should want to do. But these words to the Corinthians are also hard for many people to accept. Paul states that each person who believes in Jesus is a part of the body of Christ which is the church. Each person then has something to give as well as receive from that church. Now you can define the church in many different ways and I won't get into that right now. But for all those who think they can believe in Jesus on their own this is a very clear statement that it doesn't work that way. A believer must be in active relation to others of faith or they are like an ear disconnected to the head. It is still an ear but it is useless and lifeless no matter what function it once was able to provide.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- Why do you think Paul found it necessary to remind people that they were all a part of the body of Christ?
- What part of being with/in the body of Christ (the church) do you find the most difficult? The easiest?
- Who do you know that has been a part of the body before but now has chosen to remove themselves from the church? Why do you think they did this?
- What might you do today to help you strengthen your connection to the church? Someone else's connection to the church?
No comments:
Post a Comment