Strength in Numbers

Why You Belong in Church:

     The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all it parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ....
      If the foot should say, " Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, " Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, " it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
     If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body....
      But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
     If one part suffers, every part suffer with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12, 15-2, 24b-26

Defining Moments:

     Your week may be filled with sales meetings and lunch plans, with night classes and homework, with diapers and runny noses. Whatever ordinary means to you. You may be having a squabble with your sister or a hassle with your landlord. You may be knee deep in credit card bills or trying not to worry about that curious new pain in your side.
     The week has a way of wearing you down, of hitting you head-on with more troubles and temptations than you were hoping to handle. You can fall into a bed on Saturday night a limp rag. A sigh. A surrender. You may feel almost as far out of God's plan as you were before you gave your life to Him.
     But no matter what your week's been like, you can walk into God's house on Sunday morning and know that you're right where you're supposed to be--that you're part of something bigger than yourself, a place where you belong, a member of an eternal family. You need them, and they need you. And together, you can find the strength to face another week. To go on another day.

Next Up:

     More than Sunday morning, though, you need a face-to-face connection with a few close Christian friends who can help to keep you living what you say you believe.

Lone Rangers look pretty tough on the big screen. But underneath, they're nothing but palefaces.

     " It's only as we, as a body of Christian, grow together in Jesus Christ that we will truly reflect faith, hope, and love."
     -Gene Getz