Your Sin Is My Sin

             Imagine the last time you stumped your toe, and it bled.

What did your body do? Did your brain ignore the pain being inflicted on that part of your body? Did your platelets (cells that clot the blood to help heal a wound) decide to take a break and let your blood just spill out of your body?

No, your body would never ignore the pain in your toe. Every part of you ignites into action when even the smallest part of you is harmed. I know for me, I’ll grab my toe as it throbs, telling my body that it needs help.

If our physical body reacts to every pain, why doesn’t the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 12:1 says, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ” (NIV). If we are the body of Christ as Christians, then we need to work together. Later in 1Corinthians 12:26, Paul writes, “If one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (NIV). Notice this verse doesn’t just say we only rejoice with our brothers and sisters in the good times, but we also suffer with them when they suffer.

How many times have we said something along the lines of “Oh, did you hear what Jane Doe did last night? I can’t believe she committed that sin,” or “Jane Doe is struggling with this sin, let’s pray she will be redeemed from that and stop sinning”? I know I’ve at least thought it and said those words, all the while thinking in individualistic terms and never as a community of believers who are struggling with sin together.

            The other night at my community group we all confessed our sins to God by writing them on strips of paper, then crumbling those pieces of paper up and throwing them away. We didn’t put our names on the pieces of paper; we simply and honestly confessed.

            Last night, one person read to us 1 Corinthians 12:1-26 (I encourage you to read all of it), and then, opened up a piece of paper covered in OUR sins. I was amazed at how many sins we all had personally in common, but I was reminded of the struggle WE are going through and the battle that is raging around me.

            Their sin is my sin. Their triumphs are my triumphs.

            If only we as a collective body of Christ realized that more, that when you struggle, I struggle, then maybe we’d be more apt to spur one another on in love and good works. Remember, we weren't made to live in a bubble; we were made to live together-in everything. 

            Until we struggle together, we’ll never be able to have victories together.

Living Life Together,

Rebecca Thomas