“As we have many members in one body, so we being many are one body in
Christ” (Rom. xii. 4, 5).
Sometimes our communion with God is cut off, or interrupted because of
something wrong with a brother, or some lack of unity in the body of
Christ. We try to get at the Lord, but we cannot, because we are separated
from some member of the Lord’s body, or because there is not the freedom
of His love flowing through every organic part. It does not need a blow
upon the head to paralyze the brain; a blow upon some nerve may do it; or
a wound in some artery at the extremities may be fatal to the heart.
Therefore we must stand right with all His children, and meet in the body
of Christ in the sweetest, fullest fellowship, if we would keep our
perfect communion with Christ Himself. Sometimes we will find that an
altered attitude to one Christian will bring us into the flood-tides of
the Holy Ghost. It seems impossible to have faith without love, or to have
Christ alone without the fulness of fellowship with all His dear saints;
and if one member suffer, all suffer together, and if one rejoice, all are
blessed in common.