Loving Each Other

Our granddaughter is currently receiving treatment in a large children’s hospital. The stay is proving to be longer than we first thought, and we are becoming more and more familiar with hospital comings and goings.

A hospital this size is like a small city, and every walk of life is represented here. While we normally think of doctors and nurses running the show, so many other people undergird the smooth efficiency that allows patients to be cared for and nurtured.

I notice the people.

I walk through the massive halls, and I pass food service workers faithfully delivering custom meals to patients. They must walk miles each day. People are mopping and sweeping, emptying waste bins, tidying rooms, moving patients, and generally facilitating an environment that supports patient health. Invariably, someone will notice my perpetually lost expression and offer to stop what they are doing to show me the way through the maze of halls.

Helping hands. Caring smiles.

The microcosm of the hospital reminds me of church.

Paul tells us this about Christ’s church:

“⁴ For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:” (Romans 12:4 – 6a NKJV).

When a church operates as God intends, every believer has a place and purpose. Following God’s leadership to accomplish His purpose means the sick are cared for, the hungry are fed, the dirty are cleaned, and the lost are shown the way.

If we are not faithful to God’s purpose, the church cannot operate efficiently, nor can it nurture and care for all the members. However, when all members are attentive to the tasks God has given them, we see a little picture of Heaven in the operation of the church.

I know that not all hospitals run as efficiently as the one we are presently experiencing, and, sadly, not all churches are places of refuge in this troubled world. However, God created a plan to provide the support that believers need,

if we will just faithfully do our jobs with love.

“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;” (Romans 12:10 NKJV).

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27 KJV)

Photo, Dependent, Beth Mims