Body Aches.

1 Corinthians 12:24-26
24 [...]while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Remember how yesterday I talked about dead fingers and such? Now, imagine that you cut your finger just most of the way off...not all the way off. I think that might even hurt longer than cutting it all the way off. Our fingers and toes aren't a huge portion of our body, but when those seemingly little pieces are in pain, our whole body is wailing and we can't turn our attention away from it.

This is how the church should operate. No one's spiritual gifts makes someone more important than the rest of the congregation. We should ache just as much for the injured person who sits next to us in the pews as we do for the injured pastor preaching at the pulpit. The same goes for celebratory circumstances!

Unfortunately, we're not perfect; as humans, we have favorites and tend to rank other people by their intelligence, popularity, and social/financial status. Under these judgmental conditions, the body can't heal if it pretends like a broken arm or leg is normal. The church can't survive if we pick and choose whose side we take.

God, grant us with an equal and appropriate amount of concern for all members in the church. How would you feel if you were in pain and some just left you on the wayside?