Thought For the Week 117

Leaders -
- refreshed in Christ
- renewed in mission

Desert Islands discs is one of the longest running radio programmes. Each week it features an interview with a different well known person, interspersed with extracts of music they would want with them in the event of being marooned on a desert island. Always there is the question as to how they think they would cope with isolation. Why? For the vast majority of people prolonged isolation is not something they would choose. There are the occasional hermits and recluses, and there were the rather seemingly strange Desert Fathers of early centuries. But, from creation, God made us to be people who need each other - and that is true for Christians. We need our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are part of God’s gifts of grace to each other.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body —whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts
in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to
be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? …
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a
part of it.

Eagle’s Wings Ministries UK Ltd

Reg Charity No. 1132628

Weymouth, Dorset, UK

If we are honest, it is not always easy to see each other as part of God’s gift of grace - indeed, there are times when it feels like just the opposite.

Whatever our feelings and whatever the state of our relationships with brothers or sisters in Christ, the truth remains - we belong to each other because we are part of the body of Christ. Paul, teaching on God’s grace gifts makes it clear that we need each other, not just each other’s gifts.

We need each other for strengthening and deepening faith; for encouraging one another through difficult times; for correcting one another when we make mistakes or when our teaching (if we are involved in that ministry) is off centre.

We learn from one another’s insights of Scripture; we are blessed as others pray for us. In tough and lonely situations we are sustained by the knowledge that brothers and sisters are remembering us, texting, calling, emailing - some form of networking with us - as the Lord’s way of saying, “you are not forgotten or abandoned.”

As 2012 progresses, do you need to value fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ in a deeper way? Do you need to be humble enough to receive ministry from brothers and sisters? Do you need to be generous enough to give of your time to network, meet and pray with someone who needs reassurance?

Amazingly, we are part of God’s resource of grace to one another.

Mike Stear

22nd January, 2012