HELEN SANDERS
9-29-2024
WHEN ONE MEMBER SUFFERS
If you, or a loved one has ever suffered from a stroke, you have seen that part of the body does not function the way God had intended. It may become paralyzed on one side, or both, or the stroke just affected a small part of the body.
A stroke happens when a blood clot goes to the brain. Our human brain is so intricate. It controls every aspect of our body. It controls speech, movement, vision, the ability to reason, think and more. When that blood clot hits the brain, it causes damage, and somewhere in our body there is a part that will not work right. It may recover in time, but often there is no recovery. It affects not only that part of the brain, but also the rest of the body.
Similarly, the body of Christ is compared to the human body in 1 Corinthians 12. Like the human body, each part [person] was designed to do its job. In 1 Corinthians 12:25 it says, “That there should be no schism [division] in the body; [body of Christ] but that the members [all the saved individuals that make up the body of Christ] should have the same care one for another.”
It goes on to say in verse 26, “And whether one member [each individual person] suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”
Like a healthy human body that works the way God intended it, the body of Christ should also do the same. Unfortunately, there is not much unity in the body of Christ. We must realize that like our human body is made up of many parts, and so is the body of Christ made up of many parts. Corporately, our human body functions when all its parts work and so does the body of Christ when each member does it part!
When one does not do their part that God intended for us in the body of Christ then the entire body suffers. It is like their part is “paralyzed” and does not function. Rather than cut off that person who has failed in sin or has not matured enough to know their function in the body of Christ, we should help each other. We should not be envious or bitter over their place in the body, or angry that they are not functioning the way all God intended.
When a human body has a stroke, often the person is sent to rehabilitation to get their strength back. It is a hard assignment because the body fights the exercises required to strengthen it again.
Ephesians 4 speaks of spiritual rehab doctors: the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. These five individuals are like the doctors in the natural, helping the body to come together in unity, and work the way God intended. If we yield to the training, we will be a strong, healthy, body of Christ. If not, we will be like a weak stroke victim in the natural.
Always remember, that when one member [part of the body of Christ] suffers, we all suffer. So, try to be the one that brings health back for that individual and for the body of Christ so that we can be in unity and work together building God’s kingdom, rather than leaving others weak and ineffective. Together we can work effectively.
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