ODB: Suffering Together
September 1, 2020
READ: 1 Corinthians 12:14–26
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26
In 2013, seventy-year-old James McConnell, a British Royal Marine veteran, died. McConnell had no family, and staff from his nursing home feared no one would attend his funeral. A man tapped to officiate McConnell’s memorial service posted a Facebook message: “In this day and age it is tragic enough that anyone has to leave this world with no one to mourn their passing, but this man was family. . . . If you can make it to the graveside . . . to pay your respects to a former brother in arms, then please try to be there.” Two hundred Royal Marines packed the pews!
These British compatriots exhibited a biblical truth: we’re tied to one another. “The body is not made up of one part, but of many,” Paul says (1 Corinthians 12:14). We’re not isolated. Just the opposite: we’re bound in Jesus. Scripture reveals organic interconnection: “If one member suffers, all the members suffer” (v. 26
Perhaps the worst part of suffering is when we feel we’re drowning in the dark all by ourselves. God, however, creates a new community that suffers together. A new community where no one should be left in the dark.
— Winn Collier
When have you felt most alone? How does God’s grace, kindness, and friendship help you deal with loneliness?
Is it true, God? Have You really placed me in a new community that knows and loves me in my suffering? Help me to believe this. To learn more about suffering, visit ChristianUniversity.
Source: Our Daily Bread