"But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."
I don’t believe that the church today attains this level of unity. Do I suffer when another suffers? Do I rejoice at the advancement of others? Or have I so misunderstood my role in the church, that I (and others with the same mindset) am so fractured that I am not acting like part of a body at all. When I stub my toe, my whole body is unhappy, and when I am given a good massage, my whole body relaxes. But when one in the church is blessed, do I have to fight jealousy? When one is suffering, am I disinterested? If I'm not unified with the other members of the church, then this is not what God intended.
God wants us to be such a part of each other’s lives that we are looked at and seem as one. Our care and involvement goes to such levels, that we are actually a single body. This is accomplished by the more gifted/honored parts of the body reaching out to those who lack, in order to lift them up. This may involve financial assistance, but I believe that it goes far deeper than that. You don’t just want their physical needs to be met, you want to see them elevated to a place of spiritual maturity, and you are so involved in seeing that happen that when they succeed, you rejoice as if you have succeeded; when they are hurt, you weep as if you have been wounded; and when they fail, you lament as if you have failed.
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