Day 17
A Place to Belong
For just as the body is one and has many members,
and all the members of the body, though many,
are one body, so it is with Christ. …
If the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye,
I do not belong to the body," that would not
make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye,
where would the hearing be?
1 Corinthians 11:12,16-17
When the Apostle Paul talks about the church, he often calls it a body. And he repeatedly says that each of us is a part of the body. Some are eyes. Some are hands. You’ve probably heard that before.
But I like what Rick Warren adds next. He says, “If an organ is somehow severed from its body, it will shrivel and die. It cannot exist on its own, and neither can you. Disconnected and cut off from the lifeblood of a local body, your spiritual life will wither … This is why the first symptom of spiritual decline is usually inconsistent attendance at worship … and other gatherings of fellowship.”
Have you seen that in friends? Have you seen that in yourself? Have you ever withered when cut off from others? That’s the first thing fellowship saves us from – withering faith.
Fellowship also saves us from loneliness. Through accountability, fellowship can also keep us from backsliding.
Those are some of the personal blessings of fellowship. But did you know that God also blesses you to be blessing to others. Through your fellowship, you draw others out of isolation. You nurture their faith. You make them laugh. Because of you, others never need to be alone. You can keep them accountable. You can serve with them in mission.
As Rick Warren says, “I am called to belong, not just believe.”
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who can’t imagine life
without the family of the church
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