One Body

On Wednesday, April 11, 2012, I caught the bus near where I live and rode it to one of my favorite locations for lunch. After lunch I walked for about thirty minutes to a distant bus stop on another bus route. Along the way I found some nice benches that were actually clean from use so I decided to rest my weary old body and watch people walk by and as I did I began to think about them and about a plan that God has that may include some of them.

Nearly every person who walked by had black straight hair and was probably headed to some specific location. Day after day they and/or others would go back and forth with fewer new body cells replacing old ones until one day they would be gone forever. As I sat there on that hard bench thinking about that and watching the traffic work its way around the subway construction that had the road torn up, I couldn’t help think of a construction project that God had underway. The materials for that project would come from the mass of humanity from around the world, maybe some of which was in front of me.

God’s construction project is a body of many members. It is one but yet is many. It is like God is one but yet is three. The human body is one but is made up of many parts, even down to extremely small cells. They are all important as they all serve a function and when they all perform perfectly then the whole body functions well and life is great.

God in his great wisdom has designed another body made up of very special humans created in the image of God. From the mass human pool found on earth over time, God, in his sovereignty is selecting out people and transforming each to fit perfectly into its place in the body. The main job for those chosen is not to pursue the things of the world, but to grow in Christ-likeness, search for others who have been chosen and help them grow.

Those who make up the body of Christ are joined together into one by the Spirit of God. We are one but yet we are many. Looking at each one gives you a small glimpse of an aspect of the body. I believe this is similar to the three in one of God. There is one God, but there is Father, Son and Spirit.

We, created in the image of God, will be perfect in the resurrection and will be joined together into one by the Spirit. That oneness then seems to be joined to God Himself because of the Spirit that indwells this body. The result is something we can’t even begin to fathom in this life.

That is what I thought about that afternoon as I sat there and watched people walking here and there, wondering who might possess a living hope and be joined with me. What a blessing it is to stop and listen for that quiet voice from God.