Skip to main content

That Hurts!

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  1 Corinthians 12:27


Monday night and all day yesterday I had a problem with a tooth bothering me.  It hurt like crazy!  Such a small portion of the body; yet when that tooth started hurting my entire body seemed to hurt.  I imagine as you read this, you can think of your own experiences with this as well; a stubbed toe, a broken bone and the list could go on.   As I was thinking on this, I was reminded that, as believers, we are also part of the body of Christ.  It made me wonder how we respond when a fellow Christian is hurting. Do we ignore them; criticize them; minimize their pain? Or do we instead help them; pray for them; ease their burden.  In short, do we love them and treat them with the care that we would treat our own body?    The fact is that one part of the body cannot hurt without the whole body hurting.  I talked to my Daughter in Georgia last week, and she had a rough day.  Let me tell you, I hurt as though it were me having the rough day.  I would have done anything to make her hurt go away.  That is how we should respond to others in the body of Christ when they hurt.  It should hurt us so much to see them hurt that we would want to help make their pain and hurt better.  Here are some things we can do:
  •          Ask God to make you specifically aware of when people are hurting.
  •   Remember that all us have hurts and struggles (it’s part of the world in which we live).
  •   Be honest when others ask how things are going? 
  •   Look for others that are going or have gone through the same things you are


I’m sure this is not exhaustive; the point is that there are things we can do when others hurt.  We just need to be available and decide we are going to do something to help.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Live Fearlessly

                                   As I was driving home today, I passed a person walking on the side of the    road.  Since it was cold, and snowy, I thought I should stop and offer the person a ride.  As I drove on by, I was irritated with myself for not stopping.  I could have and should have but I didn't. Why?  I was scared! Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but I'm willing to bet there are things that make you afraid.  It may be snakes or spiders that send the ticker into  overdrive.  Or maybe it's your job and finances that keep you up at night when you should be resting.  Then again perhaps it's relationships that consume your thoughts and energy.  As followers of God, we know that we are told not to be afraid.  Yet we often are afraid despite everything we know.   As I was driving away from a misse...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tragedy: A Christian Response

I want to start by telling you a story.  We were new parents.  When Our oldest, a son, was about eighteen to twenty months we had another baby, a girl with brown hair and huge eyes.   One day as I went to feed her, my son who may have been two at the time wandered off to another part of the house.  The next thing I heard was a thud.  I grabbed my baby girl and ran to see what happened.  There was my son with a table on top of him.  He had pulled it over on himself and more blood than I had ever seen was running all over.   We put him in the car and dashed for the ER.  It was not a fun trip. He had a skull fracture and many stitches.  Fast forward about fourteen or fifteen years, I’m at a stop light and watch my youngest daughter about ten start across a street on a bike start across a street just as a truck comes around a corner into the path of the bike.  She hit the side of the truck and bounced onto the road....
Post a Comment
Read more

Just A Word of Praise!!

  On Sunday, after church, we went to a town about thirty minutes away.   On the way we drove through an area where they were working on the road.  It was no big deal.  We had lunch, bought some food for the week, and drove back home.    Later, as we were on our way to church for the evening service, I heard the ominous flapping sound that a tire makes when it’s flat.  Yikes!  I pulled over and while I was debating how I was going to change a tire.  A car coming in the opposite direction drove by and stopped.   As the driver appeared from the vehicle, I recognized him as a neighbor and fellow believer.  He approached the car, and asked if I had an air compressor to inflate the tire.  My answer, “Yes, but I’m not sure how good it is.  I’ve never actually managed to inflate a tire using it. I may not be using it properly.”   I produced it from the trunk of the car and handed it to him.  Within...
Post a Comment
Read more