Members of One Another

(This is something I wrote last year for fellow teens. I thought maybe some of you might find it edifying as well .)

We Are Members of One Another

How often do your arms and legs compete with one another, to prove which one is best? Or is it your eyes and ears that compete with one another the most? It is quite evident that your eyes are the most talented, because they can see best--or are the ears more talented, since they can hear so much better than the eyes can? Of course this is ridiculous, because each were made for a different purpose!

But you were made for a different purpose than your brother or sister in Christ, and it is therefore equally ridiculous to compare yourselves with one another!!! For “you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” (1st Corinthians 12;27)

“For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.” (1st Corinthians 12:14-16) Likewise, for the hand to say to the foot, “My abilities are greater than yours”, or for the eye to say the same to the ear, is vain boasting. Even if it were possible to fully know, it does not matter which one is better, for each was made for a very different purpose.

The purpose of the Body of Christ does not include competition between its members, as we can clearly see from the very analogy. (And we can be very sure that God chose His comparison well, when He called us members of His Body and likened this to the members of a physical body!) The function of the Body of Christ is to accomplish the will of God here on earth, doing as much good as possible in the lives of others. This is far better accomplished when believers work together as a team, toward the same end (God's will), than it is when they are seeking their own glory or all trying to do the same thing. “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1st Peter 4:10)

In a body, each organ has a different function from all the others. But could you tell me which organ is less useful--i.e., which one could be done without? No, each one is vital to our well-being. So it is with believers and their varying abilities. God has made each one with just the strengths he needs for the special calling He has for that person, and it is foolishness to say that one person is better than another, just because he has some abilities that another does not have.

The Body of Christ is also like a community, full of different roles that are all needed. Which person is more important--the firefighter or the doctor? While the doctor’s special abilities and knowledge may be more obvious, the firefighter also has some unique abilities and knowledge of his own, that the doctor does not have--and both are vital to the community’s well-being. It would be foolish to compare the two, since their roles are so different. Instead we appreciate, individually, the good work they do for us.

Likewise we must learn to appreciate fellow believers for who they are and the things they do--beginning with the members of our own family--instead of comparing and competing to decide who is better. “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body." (1st Corinthians 12:17-20)

And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be much weaker are necessary; and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness, whereas our seemly members have no need of it.

“But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.” (1st Corinthians 12:21-25)

The person who is not good at ball or running or singing, might be good at explaining and teaching Scripture, and the person who is not a good communicator might be very good at fixing things, and the person who is not good at drawing might be a good cook or gardener. The person who is old or disabled might be full of wisdom to pass on to us from his own walk with God and life experience. What is important is how their hearts are before God (which we cannot always judge)--and most important is how our own hearts are before God!....

We are not here to prove that we are somebody, or to follow our ambitions or preserve our pride and comfort at the expense of others and their needs. Just as the members of our physical bodies each function not for their own good alone, but for the good of the body as a whole, so we are to seek not our own personal interests, but the good and the fruitfulness of the Body of Christ as a whole. (The fruitfulness of the Body of Christ includes reaching out to those in the world.)

What if the other members of your body decided to reject and cast off one of your hands, because it was deformed or injured, and they thought it was more of a bother than a help to them? What if each member of your body was seeking its own ambitions and to be exalted above all the rest? A little bit far-fetched, yes, but it shows how far we are from God's plans for us when we put our own desires and ambitions above the good of the rest of the Body of Christ, and seek to be noticed and admired rather than to serve.

The members of Christ's Body which are noticed are not more important than the ones which are not noticed, any more than the mouth is more important than the lungs on account of being in a prominent place. What matters is how well each does his part in Christ's work as His body here on earth. That is what Christ's Body is here for--a continuation of what He did when He Himself was here with us!

The good and fruitfulness of Christ's Body includes our well-being, of course, just as the well-being of your body as a whole is one and the same as the well-being of each individual part of your body. This is at once something difficult and something beautiful beyond description, and is a concept we would do well to keep foremost in our minds. When your head has troubles, and is hurting, the rest of your body shares in its pain. And, depending on the severity of the problem, the rest of your body might not continue with business as usual.

Your feet might take time out to give you a ride to the medicine cabinet, while your hands occupy themselves with taking a Tylenol out of the bottle and filling a glass with water. Your mouth will assist by taking that pill for the sake of the sinuses, while your throat swallows the water and your stomach digests that bitterness. They usually don't complain about it--and if they do they certainly don't resent the head for causing them extra work. It is simply part of their calling as members of your body, even if it is inconvenient or distasteful.

There is something else important about the members of our body. They do not give up on their fellow members just because they have ongoing needs. Perhaps the head might suffer for a long time, but the other members bear with it and serve it as long as necessary--and even suffer with it! "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it.” (1st Corinthians 12:17-26) If you have an incredible headache, it isn't your head that is sick--rather, you tell other people that you (all the members of your body) are sick. And all the members of your body are indeed working constantly and at sacrifice for the healing of the head!

Even if your head gets well, your stomach will continue to need to be given food. Will your mouth say, "That lazy stomach is always asking for more; I think it's just trying to take advantage of me"? Not likely. The stomach is doing its own part well--but is still in a position to need lifelong help from the mouth! And think what would happen if the mouth were to decide that another member should do the job, when it is so much better equipped!!

Does this sound simplistic or too difficult? It is very true that we never will be perfect, and may not even work together as well as the members of our imperfect earthly bodies do. But if we would only start viewing things in this way, thinking in terms of being members of one another, it would revolutionize our Christian walk! It is because we do not think in these terms, but seek our own individual happiness and ambitions alone, that the usefulness of the Body of Christ as a whole is so limited today.

It is and will always be a fact that the Body of Christ can only function properly and become fruitful to the extent that its members act as members of one Body, seeking both the well-being and the fruitfulness of the Body of Christ, instead of each his own interests. We will never be perfect at it--and neither will the Body of Christ as a whole do a perfect job of accomplishing His will. But if we would only apply the principle of acting as members of one another, it would increase our service (and other's service!) to God a hundred, maybe a thousand-fold!

Blessings,
costlygrace