The body of Christ

Today's readings
Tomorrow's readings

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. " 1 Cor 12:12

As I get older I find myself concentrating more and more on what it means to love. Not the emotionally charged love that is invariably intertwined with lust but the sacrificial love that Christ calls us to. That is a hard subject to talk about because it goes hand in hand with my selfishness and judgemental nature. I have been thinking about this more and more because I am realizing little by little how much Christ has loved me when He gave His life so that mine could be ransomed and saved from destruction. That love should then flow out of me to those around me and to my shame often it does not. It is an easy thing to love those whom we like. It is a hard thing to love those who are difficult or different or have special needs. And yet all of the saved are part of Christ's body. We may have different gifts and different tasks but we are no less than a child of God and that is distinction enough. Love of those around us is something that is consistently taught in the Bible and cannot be ignored. Loving your enemies sometimes is the easier thing to contemplate because we can see the immediate benefit of overcoming our hatred and it is almost a reward in our minds. To love the man or woman who is not an enemy but is self centered or does not bathe often or is obnoxious and crude is more difficult. But we are not better and are often worse and for every person that I think is obnoxious there are at least 2 who think I am a major pain in some way. But I often choose to forget that given that I see myself in the best light most of the time. We are all parts of the body of Christ and we should love each other as such. May God grant us the humility today and every day to love others as He loves us.