1 Corinthians 12:25-26
He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Last year, my niece and our great-nephew Timothy got sick a couple of weeks before Christmas with stomach flu. This “bug” was running rampant through our community, and by the week of Christmas, my sister and her husband had succumbed. On December 22nd, my sister called me and weakly asked, “Can you come and get Timothy? His mother is working, and we [meaning she and her husband] are too sick to care for him.” I went right away and collected Timothy, who was still fairly sick himself.
Over the course of the next few days, Timothy got better and began to drink his bottles again and keep down liquid Jello and a drink designed to restore the electrolytes in infants. By Christmas Eve, my sister and my niece seemed to be feeling better, too. Everyone gather at our home for a Christmas Eve lunch and an afternoon of opening gifts and visiting.
I noticed that my husband distanced himself from the group, but since not everyone could fit at the dining table anyway, I didn’t think much about it. But when he told me he had a headache and disappeared to an upstairs bedroom, I knew all was not well. By the end of the evening, he was too sick to move… and sometime after midnight, I woke up feeling just as badly. When the weekend was over, everyone in the family had gotten some version of this “bug” except my mother. My husband and I felt so badly that we postponed opening our Christmas gifts to each other.
While this was not funny at the time, we later laughed about “Timothy’s first Christmas” and how we all were so sick. We took the admonition of Paul to share one another’s hurts to a whole new level – and not by choice! I knew when I picked up the baby and brought him to our house that we would most likely catch his virus. But on that day, a tiny sick baby needed someone to care for him… and we were the only ones available to do so. There was no way we would have refused.
But here’s the deal… so often, we focus so much on ourselves that we don’t consider the other person’s feelings. We say, “I cannot get involved in that… I have my own problems.” Or we decide that “This is really none of my concern.” We look at the person who is hurting in some way… someone with great need… and we either pass judgment and determine that they got into this mess on their own and should get out of it the same way – or we declare that “this is simply not my problem.”
But Paul says otherwise. He tells us in this passage that when one of our sisters or brothers in Christ is hurting or in need, we should feel this deeply ourselves. “I feel your pain,” should not be a cliché… it should be the way Christians behave toward others. I’m not saying that there are never situations and circumstances that are none of our business. But the Christian servant prayerfully knows how to tell the difference.
Where has God given you opportunities to share in others’ needs, yet you turned and went in another direction? Where have you stepped up and answered the call? Can you do more? Shouldn’t you? Ask God to show you how and where to empathize with others in your daily life… to make a difference when possible… and to operate with wisdom and discernment in choosing when and where to get involved. Start looking for new ways to make the entire body of Christ happy, and see how greatly everyone is blessed by your efforts.
©2010 Debbie Robus
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