| “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4). |
| Perhaps you have heard people sometimes refer to the body of Christ, and how we who are saved are all members of His body. Do you know what this means? |
| All of us have bodies, and they enable us to carry out our daily responsibilities. We have brains that can think, ears that can hear, mouths that can speak, hands that can do things, and feet that enable us to walk. We also have internal organs, such as a heart, a liver, two kidneys, two lungs, etc. that we have not likely ever seen, yet they form a vital part of our body. Each part of our body has a specific function, and normally one part of the body cannot do what the other parts do. I once saw a video of a woman who had no arms, and had to do everything with her feet. She managed very well, but I am sure she would rather have had her arms and hands! (She could change a baby’s diaper, bake bread, drive a car, and even write out a check — all with her feet! But hands could do all this more easily!) |
| With the body of Christ, He is the Head in heaven. We learn this from Colossians 1:18 — “And He is the Head of the body, the church.” He is up there in heaven, and He is the Head of His body, which is down here. The body of Christ is composed of all believers who are alive at any one time on this earth. Today there are millions of people who belong to Christ, and who are members of His body. |
| Just as in our natural bodies, the members of the body of Christ have different functions. The Apostle Paul describes this to us in 1 Corinthians 12:17 — “If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?” For the same reason God has given different gifts to various members of the body of Christ, so that the body can function properly. Some people are good gospel preachers, some have a real gift in teaching children in a Sunday school, some are good teachers of the Bible, and some are good at comforting people who need it. God wants us each to use what He has given us. |
| Sometimes our human bodies do not function properly, and sad to say, sometimes the body of Christ does not work together as it should. Our natural bodies cannot function without direction from the brain (our “head”). For example, someone with Alzheimer’s disease, whose brain is not working properly, sometimes cannot tell his hands to feed himself. It is so important to look to our Head in heaven for direction, for He never gives wrong directions to His body. |
