I recently had a friend who suffered a terrible accident and was significantly burned. Her recovery required several skin-grafts, some of which took hours in the operating room. She constantly had to be aware of the regrowth process, and the grafts, along with constant care and cleaning, led to the healing and keeping out of potential infection. Without the grafts, there would not be enough covering for the healing process, and she would find herself with unrecoverable wounds, and immediate infection setting her whole body on the course for failure. In short… she had to get the grafts, or she was going to die.
Not all situations are of such an immediate urgency but are still serious in nature as there needs to be covering and healing, otherwise potential death, loss of limbs, or infection.
We, as members of the body of Christ, should be able to draw a direct correlation to this concept.
When we have a situation in our lives that is hurtful, or something difficult or out of our control, it can sometimes leave us feeling raw. Rejected, alone, burned, destroyed, humiliated…exposed. I think this is exactly the type of experience that Paul was talking about when he spoke to the church about “loving one another”. He also talks about restoring, “especially those in the body of Christ”, and so does James.
Whether it is in a time of peril from an unprovoked source, or a result of our own sinful choices or wrongdoing… our fellow members of the body of Christ all have different hardships, and “burdens” (Gal 6:2) to be carried.
James 5:16 and 19-20
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful…. My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, he should know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his life from death and cover a multitude of sins.
The interesting thing about these verses is that they are not directed at the ones living apart from Christ, but rather those living with the knowledge of salvation and participation in the church.
The truth of our hardships is that, in all good-intentioned Christian-behavior, we sometimes get so distracted by the suffering that we inadvertently turn to sin, or in the least, take our eyes off of the joy of the Lord. This is the time when we need each other most… for healing and protecting our wounds and infection entry points, so that the “body” can continue to function for the glory of our Lord.
1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
The idea of “covering sins” can get muddy. I do not think this is telling us to conceal harmful or dangerous actions, or ignore misbehavior, endorsing the individual as a “good man” instead of being honest about deeds and misgivings. Instead this is a call to action on the part of fellow believers. If you see a fellow believer’s mess slipping out of their hands (or if they tell you about it), help them pick it up… and carry it (hello, burden). Are they feeling exposed? Use what you can to help them cover their wound and then look to the Lord with them for healing. The point is this: if we are members of the “body” of Christ, like any other body, sometimes places get injured or sick, or sometimes just plain messy.
If that is your situation today, there is great importance of sharing in that with other members of the body. Don’t feel like you have it in you to carry through a situation? Let someone cover you and carry that with you. To the glory of our God, let’s find opportunities to help and encourage other parts of the “body”. And when (not if) you find yourself in need of a graft, take comfort in knowing that God has a part of the body to draw it from.
Prayers and Petition 