Belonging to the Body
It was mid afternoon today when I sat down at my ‘desk’ (which is actually one of the counters in our kitchen) to open my Bible. And if I am honest, I was looking to check another thing off my list. Keep the productivity churning. Feel the satisfaction of accomplishment. I wasn’t looking to meet Jesus. But oh did He meet me there. The study I am following was reviewing the book of 1 Corinthians. The apostle Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. It is famous for the “love chapter” that is read at what feels like the majority of weddings. As I read the summary, the inner voice went something like this: “Ya ya, I know. Love, unity, body, spiritual gifts, the church. Nothing new here.”
And then I opened my Bible. The heading of the portion I read was titled “Unity yet diversity in the Body.” It expands on the idea that a body is one and yet many parts. And then I came to the following that stopped me cold.
“Indeed, the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as He wanted.”
- 1 Corinthians 12:14-18
How often have you heard and believed the lie that you don’t belong? My fingers and toes aren’t sufficient to count the times I have heard, felt, or believed that. Waiting and waiting, finally to be picked last for soccer during gym class in elementary school, the words not spoken but felt. I don’t belong on that field. Or not ‘cool enough’ to belong to that group. Feeling constantly like an imposter through my teens. Wrestling with feelings that my faith meant I didn’t belong in my chosen field of study. Being put in leadership roles in our church in my 20’s among seasoned believers and eloquent teachers and believing I had nothing to contribute, that somehow I didn’t belong. Deciding that others would be better off without me in their life.
Lies. When we say “I don’t belong,” Jesus opens His arms and says “You all belong, and not just belong, I have specifically put you where you are.” Believing the lie of belonging keeps us from not only experiencing the beauty of working with other parts of the body, but also keeps others from benefiting from what we have to contribute.
Which lead us to the next part of this passage.
“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable.”
- 1 Corinthians 12:21-22
There’s another lie that we so often believe. This one comes straight from pride. “I don’t need help. I can do this on my own. I’m better off without those others.” I have believed that too. Thought less of other members of the body, felt that is if I admitted I needed help then I was showing weakness. The truth is that we need each. God created us in His image. And He is a communal God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in community with each other. It is created into our very DNA to need one another.
“So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”
- 1 Corinthians 12:26
I need you. I need every one of you. And you need me too.
To show up.
To the best we can be.
To seek the Lord.
To love justice.
To love mercy.
To walk humbly with God.
To believe the best in each other.
To join in the suffering.
To rejoice in the honouring.
To love deeply.
To embrace different.
To say “You belong here.”
Every day, my study asks this question: “How does today’s reading shape your understanding of the story of redemption?” And this is what I wrote in my journal. Jesus’s death on the cross redeems even our ideas of community and belonging. His body, sacrificed for the body, the church. He truly changes everything. I am thankful for a God that didn’t leave us stuck in our pride and pain and rebellion. (And I am thankful that today He opened my heart to hear His truth and experience His love, rather than leaving me in a state of “ya ya, I know.”)
So friend, I don’t know what trial you are walking through today, what may feel dark or what burden you have been carrying. But hear me say this (and imagine I am saying it while wrapping you in a hug): You belong here. And we need you. I need you. God has a purpose and plan for you. Keep going.