HURTING BODY PARTS
1 Corinthians 12:14-20, 25-26
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
After months of training the time had arrived. The peak of Mount Everest was in view, the ascent was almost finished. By the next day all members of the climbing party would reach the top and complete lifelong goals.
As the group climbed in the thin air my friend Dan felt his foot slip into a small crevice between rocks. There was no real pain, but something wasn't right. He looked down to see his foot facing the wrong way... instead of pointing forward, it was pointing backwards. Right then the entire climbing party came together to administer first aid.
The climb was over for Dan and the rest of the group decided to turn back to make sure he got off of the mountain safely. Dan argued and told the group to finish the climb. The rest of the team decided that they needed to get off of the mountain safely together. When one part of the team is hurt, the whole team hurts.
This story illustrates the family of God as well as a healthy marriage or family. God calls His family a "body" and as such, each part of the body needs the rest of the parts to be successful. We can argue that we don't feel part of a family, but we are. We can ignore it, but when we do, we not only hurt, but the entire family is missing a part. Like Dan's foot, it might not have been a lot of noticable pain, but it stopped him and the whole team from finishing the work they had set out to.
In our marriages things are the same... the team might be smaller but we have a responsibility to hold the other team member up. If we fail as a marriage team member or we allow our partner to fail when we have to ability to stop it, it could take years to heal the "body".
Remember that we are all parts of many bodies under the body of God's family. When one body part hurts, the entire body hurts. Watch carefully for pain within the family and help heal the pain before it brings the entire body down.
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