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Key Bible Verse: Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Corinthians 12:27). Bonus Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

In the early 1990s, the University of Michigan boasted what many commentators believed to be the top five basketball players in the country. This quintet was quickly dubbed the "Fab Five," and talk of four successive NCAA championships dominated the sports section of newspapers. History, however, proved otherwise. While superstars in their own right, they never meshed as a team. None of the "Fab Five" ever won one championship.

The apostle Paul faced a similar situation in the city of Corinth. The church he started there was deeply divided by strife and jealousy. Those blessed with certain spiritual gifts felt superior to those whose gifts seemed more "average." Others acted in blatant disregard to those around them, oblivious to the effect their words and actions had on others.

That's why Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians. He calls them back to loving God with their whole hearts, and strengthening and supporting their neighbors as themselves. He drills his point home by using an analogy for the church: we are the body of Christ. There is no "I" in the word "body!"

—Steven B. Borst in Men in the Church

• What keeps you from connecting with others at church? What can be done to overcome this barrier?

Thought to Apply: Build for your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another and of strength to be derived by unity.

—VINCE LOMBARDI (football coach)

Credits: Adapted from— Monday: Men in the Church (Concordia, 1998)

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.

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