1 Corinthians 12:12-14
"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member but many."
Not only are believers made one with Christ through the touch of the Spirit, we're also made one with each other as we live spiritually in the body of Christ. Every believer is equally the body of Christ, for the Lord's Spirit lives equally within each of us as the Lord's temple.
In a brilliant illustration, Paul points out the wholeness of the physical body. While it has many parts, some of which are very visible, and some which are fairly well hidden, it is still only one body, though of many members.
It is the same within the church. While we are many members, some seen and some not seen, we are still one body, united according to the Spirit's touch. Just as a body part without the rest of the body is of little use, surely a Christian without life within the rest of the body of Christ, the church, is equally helpless in the kingdom.
As a part of the Air Force, we've found that just about anywhere we go in service to our nation, we immediately feel at home when we discover others who are also members of the body of Christ. No matter what our differences, we are united in Christ, with the Spirit drawing us together.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I thank you for both the diversity and the unity of your body, the church of Jesus Christ. May we seek out these differences and celebrate them in you. Amen.
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