Body Pains

         I don't know how it happened, but something has been irritating the heel of my right foot. It is rather sore which results in limping a little as I walk, which then produces pain in my hips and legs and goes up into my back. At first, it just seemed to be some irritation but has not gone away and will probably send me to a doctor in the near future. The pain in the heel has involved almost all other parts of my body. The apostle Paul had a word for this in the following passage. First Corinthians 12:26-27 says, "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." 

         Paul had used the physical body to describe the church, the Body of Christ. The statement, "whether on member suffer, all the members suffer with it" is certainly true in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm. We can readily associate a pain in a toe or a finger as causing other parts of the body to suffer along with it to the point of becoming more or less unoperational. Once the problems is observed, we usually take some steps to correct it. We can take a few pain pills, see a doctor, soak the area with the appropriate cloths of either cold or hot compresses, get out the epsom salts or whatever else might be prescribed to alleviate the problem. Since we are all a part of the Body of Christ, we can likewise feel the pain of another member as it affects all of us. Our "hearts go out" to people when we hear of attrocities being committed whether in foreign lands or here in our own country. The "one another" commands encourage us, even exhort us to pray for one another and to bear one another's burdens. Sometimes, the problems that cause the pain are visible to others. We shouldn't need to be told to pray for someone who has recently lost a loved one, became sick themselves, have physical and financial problems or those who produce signs of difficulty in their lives. I used to sing a song entitled, "The Grass is growing." The song was about a village in Uganda and each believer in the village, would go out into the jungle to a private place to pray. As they would go out each day, a path began to appear and soon all of the vegetation was gone. If perchance, grass began to grow in the path it wold be a sign that the believer had stopped going out to pray. In the song, the observer approaches the individual and reminds him that he is sinning by not going to to pray and that this is observable by the grass growing on his path. The song can be about us or about a fellow believer. Is grass growing on your path because you have stopped praying? Whatever the issue may be in the lives of each and every believer, we can readily conclude that the body suffers when just one small part is in pain. May we all be praying one for another. Praise God that He heals the wounds of His children.