The Body of Christ

1 Cor. 12:27 (ESV)  Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

When I was a boy, I asked God to show Himself to me

Not in a spiritual sense, but something tangible I could see.

He didn’t appear to me that night, He wouldn’t show Himself,

So, just to show who’s the boss, I put His Book back on its shelf.

As the years went by, His Book came down, now I know Him as my Lord

But, He never forgot my prayer, He remembered every word.

When I look around the church, I see some very dear friends of mine

Who show me through their lives and loves, God’s qualities divine.

In some, I see the joy of God, His patience, and His kindness

While others share His love in truth to cure the world’s blindness.

With some, it’s His authority that comes bursting through,

With others, His sense of humor with the funny things they do.

If you ever prayed a prayer like mine on some dark and lonely night,

Just look around, He’s wall-to-wall, behold the Body of Christ.

I wrote that poem maybe 40 years ago for a church “talent” show.  In case you can’t recognize the standard required for the entrants, one fellow whistled all four stanzas of Amazing Grace.  The poem may not be the best ever written, but I like the premise.

The truth of what the body of Christ truly is was made very clear to me this last week.  Saturday afternoon, I began to feel chest pains.  As a man, I was sure they would just go away.  After an hour and a half of that, Pam (my wonderful and caring wife) convinced me to go to the VA and get checked out.  Both my father and brother died of heart disease, but I’ve always been told I was fine.

On the way, I texted a group of friends who began to pray for me immediately.

Chest pains give you a golden ticket to the front of the line at any emergency room.  It was no different for me.  After some poking, prodding, and an x-ray or two, the diagnosis changed to gallbladder.  It needed to come out.  Our VA is a smaller one, so they sent me down to the Phoenix VA where a surgeon and a bed were available.  By Monday afternoon, the gallbladder was no more, and I was on my way home by Wednesday.  They kept me longer than usual because the gallbladder looked particularly “angry” said the surgeon afterward, and the surgery went much longer than expected.

During all this time, I was constantly checked up on and prayed for by brothers and sisters in Christ with texts, emails, phone calls and visits assuring me I was loved and missed.  It was like a well-oiled machine.  My wife had never driven deep into Phoenix, so I asked her to stay home rather than be swallowed by the city.  She’s smart, but the city is confusing to everyone the first time and especially alone.

So, it “happened” a Christian couple, friends of ours, texted me shortly after Pam told me she wanted to visit.  Our friends were going to Phoenix and asked if they could stop in.  I asked if they had room for Pam, and I got to see my wife.

Why is this important?

The body of Christ is made up of all the Christians past present and future.  Not only were the people from my church worried about me and seeking to love and encourage me, but so where the Christians at both VAs.  I met Christian techs, doctors, nurses, and specialists as well.  Even the guy the VA paid to drive me home from Phoenix was a fellow believer.

God is present on this earth and presents Himself in the body of His people.  When God acts, He likes to use us to join in His work just as any other Father wants to work with his children rather than work alone.  He could do it all by himself, but the bond with his child is strengthened when they work together.

We must not undervalue the Christians God brings into our lives.  He is acting through them to accomplish His purpose and blessing us all in the process.