1 Corinthians 12:26,27 “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part is honoured with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
A teenage boy in Milwaukee underwent extensive radiation treatments and chemotherapy to kill off the cancer that had been diagnosed in his body. After many weeks in hospital, he was discharged. He was skinnier than before, and totally bald as a result of the treatment. As his parents drove him home from the hospital, fear began to rise in him as to how he would get treated back at school. He’d been offered a wig but had decided to just go as he was. He opened the front door and turned on the lights. Suddenly dozens of people shouted ‘Welcome Home!’ He looked around in amazement at all his school friends who had gathered to celebrate his return. All of them had shaved their heads and were totally bald like him!
Going through tough times is hard enough even when you have people around who love and care for you. How much more for those who are completely isolated and unsupported! As the body of Christ, we need to support, love, affirm, and encourage each other. We suffer together and are honoured together, as the verse says.
Jesus’ love for us was so extreme that he went way beyond head-shaving: he went all the way to the cross. As John 15:13 says: “Greater love has no-one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.” Are you suffering alongside anyone today? Are you rejoicing alongside anyone today? Or are you living for yourself, isolated and alone, doing your own thing? Authentic Christian living means being adopted into an extended family in which we share the highs and lows, the pain and the joy. So have your antenna out today to see who God might like you to come alongside.
Lord, I don’t want to suffer or rejoice alone. I choose to be part of something bigger today. Amen!
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