“So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” – 1 Corinthians 12:26

Several years ago, I broke both of my shoulders. One shoulder has healed really well and most of the time that injury does not affect my daily life. The other shoulder, however, was far too damaged for it to be completely repaired and healed. I’ve lost over half of my range of motion, I have to be very careful not to injure it again, and it hurts almost every day. Because of that, the rest of my body is affected. The injury in that shoulder forces my neck and back to compensate, affecting their normal function. In turn, those things change my posture, causing my hips and knees to be in pain most of the time. I only injured one part of my body, but my whole body is affected. I wish that was not the case, but the truth is all those parts belong to one body. So, one part cannot hurt without affecting all the others.

1 Corinthians 12:26 tells us that the same thing is true within the body of the church. The second part of the verse is easy; anytime someone is honored we love to say, “hey, that guy goes to ‘my’ church,” even if you haven’t been there for months. However, the real test of whether or not you are part of a local body of believers is to ask, “when one of the church members is hurting, am I hurting too? Does their pain affect me?” If the answer is “no,” then I would argue that you are not truly connected to a local body of believers…and that needs to change.

Father in Heaven, draw us close to You but also draw us close to one another. Let us truly share one another’s joys and pains in a very real and deep way. Connect us in a way that very clearly makes us into one body; the Body of Christ.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Shane Cannon