Unity in diversity!

The older I get, the more I realize the importance of each body part. A sore toe can ruin a planned walk. A cut finger can slow accomplishments to a crawl. A headache affects everything, as does an irregular heartbeat. These realities help me understand why Paul used the human body as a metaphor for the church.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ . . . For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12; 14)

The amazing thing is that even though we are diverse, the Holy Spirit brings unity. No matter how many ways I am different from another Christian, we still can fellowship together. As Tozer writes, “God makes all of us different from one another, but by His Spirit He will bring divine illumination and power to our beings. It is God’s planned variety and not similarity that makes beauty and interest in our world.”

While I’m thankful for my individuality and not try to copy others that I admire, there are some characteristics of the Christian life that I could imitate in other believers.

For instance, one young friend is more gentle and positive in attitude than I have ever been. I could learn from her, even imitate her. Another is logical in thought and humble in heart. I could imitate him. My husband is cool-headed in any crisis and knows how to calm others when there is conflict. I could do better by being more like him.

All of us need to be the same in loving God and putting Him first. We need to all hate sin and be quick to obey God as He leads us. Yet we must always be ourselves.

“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. 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. 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? . . . . The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:15-17; 21–26)

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Jesus, the next time one of my body parts acts up or does not work properly can be a reminder to pray for those in the Body of Christ who are ill, over-burdened, in trouble, or not walking with You. What happens to one of us affects all of us. When all is well, also remind me to daily show concern for those who need prayer and care.