The body is the perfect analogy for the church.

I am sure the Godhead must appreciate my approval.

The writer Philip Yancey co-authored three books with Dr. Paul Brand on the marvels of God’s creation—the human body. Dr. Brand was born on July 17, 1914 to missionary parents working in India. Part of what is remarkable about Dr. Brand’s work is his lifetime spent compassionately treating those in India with leprosy.

Practicing medicine for nineteen years in Vellore, India, he treated bodies damaged by the disease of leprosy. Listening to patients’ stories and viewing their diseased bodies, he reacted by compiling a ninety-page manuscript marveling at what God had made even in the face of dreaded disease. From his deep friendship with Philip Yancey, the old, yellowed manuscript became the book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.

I love Dr. Brand’s expansion on Paul’s body analogy of the church.

The body is one unit, though it is made up of many cells, and though all its cells are many they form one body . . . . If the white cell should say, because I am not a brain cell, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be a part of the body. And if the muscle cell should say to the optic nerve cell, because I am not an optic nerve, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be a part of the body. If the whole body were an optic nerve, where would be the ability to walk? If the whole body were an auditory nerve, where would be the sense of sight? But in fact God has arranged the cells in the body, everyone of them just as He wanted them to be. If all cells were the same, where would the body be? As it is, there are many cells but one body.

Both Paul the Apostle and Paul Brand the physician make the same point. The body is the perfect analogy for the church.

What I like about Dr. Brand’s reflection on the Apostle Paul’s writing is that other than God—who is good at counting the number of hairs on our heads—no one knows precisely how many cells the body contains. That is a good lesson for letting God be God and trusting him with the number of cells making up the body of Christ.

With Jesus as the head, his body walks over the face of the earth serving others. Frankly, I don’t care if I am a kidney cell or a small toenail.

It is an honor to be one of the multiple million cells within our Lord’s body.

Back to my friend the Apostle John, if I am walking in the light of Jesus since he is walking in the light of God, when the body cares for a sick child in Houston or feeds a hungry child in Bangladesh, I find myself as a member of Jesus body serving his world.

When I serve a fellow being, others in the body can know they too are serving since together we are the body of Christ. I can take humble pride that together with all of the members we serve the head each time anyone of us cares for people he loves as much as he loves his body.

What are your reflections?  We are into a vital and deep concept. Stay tuned for more.

Gary J. Sorrells