Treasured member

Romans 12:4
Luke 15:3-10

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Individuals who have lost a member of their body will often go to great lengths to regain it. Artificial limbs...hearing aids...organ transplants...eye surgery...All because the missing member is indeed missed and certain activities cannot take place without that member. An eye cannot make up for the loss of an arm. An arm cannot make up for the loss of a liver. A liver cannot make up for the loss of an ear. So the person either learns to live a different way of life without certain functions (sometimes quite well) or finds a replacement through surgery or prosthetics. Even when the person still has use of a similar member but not the two that most people have (one eye instead of two), the loss is noticed and mourned.
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Imagine what our churches and societies would look like if we treasured each human being as a precious member of our body. Imagine how we would respond if the entire group, including ourselves, saw us as a valued member. Depended on when present, missed when absent, protected as irreplaceable: the gifts and abilities of each person treasured for what they are and the individuals for who they are, as unique members of the greater body. Is there anyone in your local church that comes to mind as being undervalued? Consider how you might seek out that person, pursuing them as the Good Shepherd pursues the lost sheep. Demonstrate how much you value that individual's role within the body, as a member which could never quite be replaced once lost. Think of the ways the body would need to change without that member's participation, and communicate how thoroughly that person would be missed.
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Linked with Fellowship Friday