My back had been mildly hurting for a few days, but by the fourth day, it was killing me! (I’m not exaggerating.) I couldn’t think about anything else except how much pain I was in and how desperately I needed relief. Finally—finally!—I drove to the chiropractor and got my rib put back in place. (This has been an issue since I fell through our garage ceiling a few years ago.)

As soon as I was adjusted, my whole body relaxed and I could think clearly once again. That’s because mild pains are usually easy to handle, but when one part of the body is suffering, the rest of the body is consumed with helping and healing. 

Paul, who lived about two thousand years ago, said the same thing happens with a different kind of body—the body of Christ. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

The people who call themselves Christians are part of the body of Christ, and when one person in that body is suffering, the rest of the body feels that pain. As Jesus’ family, we mourn with him when a loved one dies; our hearts break when she loses yet another child to miscarriage; we support him when he loses a job; we sit with her when she gets the diagnosis. We help carry his or her burden when the burden is too heavy to bear alone, all because the rest of the body is consumed with helping and healing.