Lungs and Livers

What? Has Thompson finally fallen off his rocking chair? Probably. Each of us has a physical body, a truly miraculous creation of God that works together rather well. But we need every part. I live in New England. My lungs don't reside in California, and my liver doesn't dwell in the South. In 1 Corinthians 12, beginning in verse 12, the Holy Spirit instructs us about our place in the Body of Christ. "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and all were made to drink of one Spirit." (v.13) Paul goes on to use the analogy of the physical body to express that we are all necessary, and no one is supposed to live like an island apart from the body.
Yet I find any number of people who profess Christ but have no practical relationship with His body. They are not part of a local fellowship. In the past I did this too. Why? Usually this results from mistreatment from leaders on the one hand, and unhealed, unforgiven wounds on the other. While I grant that there are a few people who are so abusive that co-existence is not possible, the reality is that whenever you have people there will be problems. The remedy is to receive the love of God so that you can give it to others, to forgive, to seek for healing of the wounds, often going deep into one's childhood, that plague us, and to recognize that the only true remedy for the insecurity that causes so many of our problems is to find our identity in who God says that we are in Jesus Christ.