What connects the body and holds it together?

As a runner, I have a fairly significant interest in the parts of the body that hold it together.  At various times, knees and ankles can feel a little sore from the movement of running, and the stresses that are placed upon those parts of the body.  But if those parts are not strengthened and prepared for the task, then the connections between the feet and the legs, or between the upper and lower legs, suffers greatly.

When Paul writes about the body being one unit made up of many parts, or members, he doesn't just leave it there.  After all, what good is a body without the various connections that give it form and shape.  While our skeletal system shapes what our body looks like, it would be nothing more than a pile of bones without connective tissue holding them together, to give them form. 

In Ephesians 4:15-16, Paul speaks about Christ's body (that is, all those who have faith in what He has done for us) growing up into Him.  But then, Paul speaks about connections in the body.  He says that the body is held together by the joints, and that the joints are equipped for what they are supposed to do.  When each part is working properly, then the body grows, built up in love.

That last part is key for us as we think of ourselves as the body of Christ.  The body is built up and equipped by love.  Faith is what connects us to the head, but it is love that connects the parts of the body to one another.  If we are missing those connections of love between the members of the body of Christ, should we be surprised to see that body fall apart, sometimes literally.  In our current day and age, so many wander in and the "slip through the cracks", and we wonder why, when the reality is, they have not been joined with the connection of love that unites the body together.

Perhaps you can think of someone in your worshiping community who may share faith in Jesus, but is barely hanging on to their connection to the body simply because no one has shown them love and care.  Why not find some way to make that kind of connection with them?  It just might be the kind of thing that joins two vital bones together in the body of Christ, and equips it even greater for the task of proclaiming Jesus' good news.