I Corinthians 12:20-27 “But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”
On June 3rd, 1980, unbeknownst to the majority of humanity, the world faced a nuclear catastrophe that nearly ended humanity as we know it. In the midst of especially high tensions with the Soviet Union, the military screens at NORAD detected 2 inbound Soviet missiles. A few moments later, 220 missiles were detected, and that number increased to over 2,000 shortly thereafter. As split second decisions were passed up the chain of command in how to respond, as nuclear alert crews were scrambling to their bombers, and as launch messages were being prepared for the missile fields and the submarine captains, the missiles on the screens disappeared without a trace and no missiles struck our nation. The same scenario happened three days later.
Maintenance troubleshooting crews scrambled to determine the cause of the false alarm. They quickly converged upon the culprit – the failure of a single, 46-cent computer chip. When that chip failed, it transmitted a 2 instead of a 0. In the computer code, that numerical value was translated into the number of inbound missiles, increasing in order of magnitude each time the signal was sent through the complicated early warning system. The engineers as the Pentagon recognized after that incident that every part mattered and nothing in the system could be discounted, minimalized, or marginalized.
If Christians in 21stCentury America are to have the impact that God intends for us, then we need to embrace the idea that every part matters and nothing in the system can be discounted, minimized, or marginalized. God has tempered our body together, and we are to never divide it asunder. The schisms within our churches are footholds for Satan to exploit and for our secular society to mock. We are to work together, suffer together, and rejoice together. We are to embrace others around us.
PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA TO SUCCESSFULLY WORK TOGETHER AS THE BODY OF CHRIST. Every part matters!
ADMIN NOTE: The story above is from the book Raven Rock