May 27

“Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof.” 1 Corinthians 12:27

The living consciousness of our fellowship in Christ is a very precious thing. It awakens in us a growing and deepening sense of “belonging.” The nature of the butterfly, always “going it alone,” gives place to the nature of the bee, always operating from the hive, always working, not for itself but for the whole. It means that we see our own standing before God, not as isolated units but as members one of another.

Units have no special use, exercise limited ministry, can easily be overlooked or left out. Whether we are present or not is no one’s concern. A unit scarcely affects even statistics. But members are otherwise. They cannot be passive in the Body; they dare not merely stand looking on. None of them can ever say, “I don’t count.”