The parts of the body

Still thinking, still pondering.....love. Love within the body of Christ. We're all given certain personalities and some personalities get along well with one type and not well with others. I, for instance, think that I've got a great sense of humor and appreciate others with a similar sense of humor(we'll leave the issue of pride for another day). However, I'm certain that somewhere out there exists someone who does not find me even remotely amusing. I feel bad for that person, of course, because he or she is lacking a good sense of humor, but nonetheless, he or she exists(hypothetically). Now, this hypothetically boring person(let's just call him/her BP for the sake of typing time), probably isn't going to be my first choice of companion, nor I his. And because BP is lacking a good sense of humor, my guess is that there will also be other things about him that will push me away from him rather than draw me to him. Some people you click with, others you don't. Well, as we continue along with our hypothetical storyline and hypothetical person, let's just say that BP also gets on my last nerve: he does things and says things that seem strange to me; I can't understand his logic; he's rude and doesn't follow cultural rules, etc., etc. As BP continues to jump up and down on that last little twitching nerve, we arrive at the heart of the matter.....love. Love within the body of Christ.

BP is made in the image of God. BP is God's creation. BP is God's child. BP is a part of the family of God. And BP is a part of the body of Christ.

And as a part of the body, I'm called to love BP. But how? Sacrificial love is something that is usually reserved for those whom we love deeply:family members, extremely close friends, right? What kind of love are we called to? Well, perhaps there are many levels of sacrificial love. For me to practice love for BP may require me to simply keep my mouth zipped in his presence, or to leave the room to pray when I find myself annoyed, or to even open myself up to extended conversations with this person- knowing that it will require great effort on my part to remain gracious; or including him in activities and conversations when it would be easier not to include him.

Many times I don't see how all of the body parts are truly useful.  Hey, we can get by with only one kidney, right? But the point is that God created the body the way it is and He created the body to work together and to function together in one way and in harmony. And I want to keep thinking on LOVE and how we're called to love one another. He never said that love was easy. He just said that it was the greatest and most important commandmant of all. Love the parts of the body of Christ just as much as you love your own body parts. Just as I want to keep all of my parts ins working order, I need to focus on keeping all of the parts of the body of Christ in working order. Let's not be tossing out those "random" little parts that we don't think are important, because we just might find ourselves flat on our faces, no longer able to keep ourselves balanced.