The Body – Many Parts Connected
By Carol Wollaston
The human body is an amazing organism! It is so remarkable because all of the parts that function so well and keep us healthy are connected one to another. There are no ‘lone rangers’ in a healthy body. The big toes wiggle at one end of the body because the brain at the other end of the body tells them to do so. Connecting the two is an incredible set of electrical wiring called the ‘nervous system’, through which impulses are passed by a series of small cords. The impulses jump the gaps, or ‘synapses’, from one cord to another, thus connecting each part to every other part.
No wonder the church is called the ‘Body of Christ’. It is to function in this same manner of interdependence as the human body does – each one linked to the others for life and activity. ‘Free radicals’ that cause the body harm, break the connections that enable healthy life. We are all called to work together in harmony and peace, and this can only happen when each one plays his or her own part. It is not helpful in the Body of Christ when a ‘big toe’ decides it would rather be an ‘eyebrow’. This would leave a functioning gap, for without a big toe one loses balance and falls flat on one’s face! The Bible says it this way, ‘if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.’ 1 Cor. 12:15-20.
The whole physical body is considered dead when there is no brain activity evident. So it is with the Body of Christ. Christ is the head of the body and directs all facets of its life. Who you are, your identity, your life in Christ, is vital to the overall function of the Body. If sight is impaired in the human body, other senses can become more pronounced to help fill the gap, but this is not the best option for any body. Christ is our head, and there is a place and a work for each person so that the Body of Christ is at peace and rest – or we could say, ‘at ease’. When we opt out of the Body of Christ there is a gap, causing the Body to be ‘dis-eased’.
The apostle calls us to ‘grow up into Him, Christ, Who is the Head, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love’. Eph 4:15. I like the word ‘effective’. When a body is functioning in a piece-meal fashion it is not being effective. Christ is not looking for just feverish activity in His Body. He wants effective ministry which leads to the building up of the Body in love. I also like the phrase ‘knit together’. It depicts a garment where each stitch is totally reliant on the others around it. One stitch dropped means a hole in the work which may cause a ‘run’ as in a stocking.
Being part of the Body is vital for each of us. The apostle James said, ‘the body without the spirit is dead’. Jas 2:26. God’s Spirit needs to be breathed into you for you to become active, effective and connected. The prophet, Ezekiel, saw a vision of a valley full of bones bleached white in the sun because they had been disconnected for a long time. For them to come to life again Ezekiel had to speak to the bones. He said, ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ Then a most remarkable miracle occurred. ‘There was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone…sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.’ Ezek 37:1-10. God did breathe upon those bones and they lived and stood on their feet as a mighty army. Likewise, there is a word from the Lord for your life. You will only hear it when a messenger from God speaks that word to you, and you will only meet that messenger when you return to find your place in the Body of Christ.
We all need to know connection in life. We do not function well if we are lonely and isolated. Our physical bodies can suffer if we feel unloved and disconnected. Christ calls us all to submit to His Headship so that we can be linked to all the other parts of His Body and know who we are and what He has called us to do. Paul told the Colossian Christians to hold fast to the Head, ‘from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God’. Col 2:19. Often our pride stops us from ‘holding fast’ and submitting to Him. Yet there is no way for us to be at perfect peace and ease unless we are connected firstly to Him and then to one another.
‘Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love …and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.’ Col 3:12-15.
