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But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” -1 Corinthians 12:24-26
Sometimes children’s stories can teach the best lessons. I was watching one of the Winnie the Pooh movies with my son recently, and I was struck by the profound nature of the main struggle of the movie. Tigger was the central character in this particular story, and one of the things that almost anyone knows about Tigger is that he’s “the only one.” It’s the last line of the song that Tigger sings about himself. He sings that it is the “most wonderful thing about Tiggers”, and yet in this story, it turns into a burden rather than a joy. Tigger is frantically searching for others that are like him, and he can’t find them. His realization that he’s the “only one” leads him to despair and aching loneliness. No one else is like him, no one else shares the same gifts or struggles as him, and so no one else will understand. He’s the only one.
Tigger’s struggle of being “the only one” actually mirrors a great spiritual danger for us. Satan wants us to buy into the idea that we are the only one. The only one to struggle with a specific sin. The only one asking a particular question. The only one questioning a certain doctrine. When we believe that we’re the only one, we end up carrying that burden alone because we become convinced that no one else will understand. No one will care. No one will help. So we become isolated by our questions, and Satan rejoices any time he can disconnect us from God’s Church.
God responds by sending His only Son that we would be reconnected to Him. God respond by forgiving our sins, promising us His presence, and speaking the truth about who and whose we are. And God responds by picking us up out of isolation, and placing us into a community, a family, a body- the Church. A place where we will “have the same care for one another”, as our text says. A people among whom you are never “the only one.” Even it seems like you are the only one asking a certain question or going through a specific struggle, that’s not actually the case. Because we are one body. So we walk through life together. When one suffers, all suffer. We go through struggle together. We walk through questions together. We pray together. We receive the Lord’s gifts together. We rejoice together. In the body of Christ, more than questions that need to be answered, we focus on people that need to be loved with the love of our Savior.
In the end of the story, Tigger realizes that while he doesn’t have anyone that looks like him, has his same gifts, or is related by blood, he is surrounded by a family of friends and that makes all the difference. For us, as we’ve been called into a new family through the blood of Christ, it makes an even greater difference. In the midst of your questions, you never have to feel like you’re the only one. Because in this family, this body, you never walk alone.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for putting me into a new family through my Baptism into Christ. Help me to walk with them through the questions and struggles of life. Remind me through them of the forgiveness, life, and salvation that you have won for me through Jesus’ blood. Thank you for your church! In the name of Jesus, who is the head of the Body, Amen.
Journal Prompts:
-What difference does it make that I am never “the only one” when it comes to my questions, struggles, or trials?
-Who are some specific people within the body of Christ that I can go to with my questions?
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