The body is majestic.
It’s amazing how it all comes together to work except when we are hurt. Injuries are never fun and can change up our whole body. My
senior year of cross country I wanted to run in the 17’s for a 5k. I started
out the year running just above 20 minutes and felt great. Injuries soon slowed
me down.
Injuries can slow us
down in life. My senior year I hyperextended my knee, strain ligaments in my
foot, pulled a muscle that goes from my knee to my hip, had a couple of stress
fractures in my shins and I had a problem with my knee caps dislocating. I was
a mess and never peaked. I was told by my family doctor to just stop running if
I wanted to improve. I couldn’t do that. I did the best I could and have no
regrets. Lately I have dealt with a shoulder problem for about 10 months and
finally went to the doctor after my elbow started hurting. It ends up while
swimming I was taking all the pain with my shoulder and working my elbow more
as a result. I developed tennis/golfers elbow as a result. I tried to correct
my body on my own and it didn’t work. Physical therapy here I come. Sometimes
the body needs to be fixed and it can go the same with the church.
Paul gives us this
example in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13…
“The body is a unit,
though it is made up of many parts; and though all it’s parts are many, they
form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one spirit
into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given
the one Spirit to drink.”
When my one part of
the body suffers the whole body can suffer. Through my injuries I have create
new injuries from my own body trying to correct itself. The church is the same
way. Everyone who comes to church has different gifts and abilities. When one
part isn’t pulling it’s own weight it can create problems for the entire body.
“The
parts of the human body work together as one,
with a dependent mutuality as each part fulfills an important function. Likewise
the body of Christ has a diversity of parts functioning together,” The Bible Knowledge Commentary.
There was once a study done about the body. If there was one
body part you could live without, which one would it be? It’s a hard lesson.
You can realize there is a part of every body that is useful. The church is the
same way. Everyone can be used in the body of Christ. Not everyone has the same
gifts and abilities. There is a reason you will never see me sing on stage. I
can’t sing. This is the beauty behind God. Everyone is useful and helpful to
him. It’s a matter of finding out where we are best called to be and what we
are called to do. Just like working out there are some things we are good at
and excited about. There are others things we still have to do even though we
are very good at them to make our body strong.
