Looney Tunes

Do you remember Saturday morning cartoons? Yes, I know you can still watch them on Saturday morning, but the old standards are gone. Remember the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show that lasted for four hours? You could wipe out a whole box of Cocoa Pebbles or Honeycomb while watching that show!

My favorite character, bar none, from Saturday morning cartoons was Yosemite Sam. How many times have you seen Sam burst into the saloon, sashay up and say “Gimme a Sasparilly, and make it snappy!” He was a hothead who always let it get him into trouble. How many times have you seen him thrown into the same canyon that Wile E. Coyote falls into, while muttering something you wish you could hear?

It took all kinds of characters, with all kinds of personalities, to make that cartoon work. What truly made it funny is that we all know people, maybe even ourselves, who act like those characters. I can even think of some people in our church who are like Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote. Don’t think for a second that I am going to tell you who they are though!

The Bible tells us that being part of this family of God is like that as well. It takes all of us. 1 Corinthians 12:12 reads, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” We need each other. We are the body of Christ, but we are not all the head, the foot, the hands, the heart. We also cannot survive, or at the least, function properly without the rest of the body.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:14, 21-27)

This passage is sometimes a tough one to swallow. We may not agree with everything our Christian brothers or sisters do, but we are commanded by God to encourage them, pray for them, and love them with His love. If we do not, we are causing the whole body to be restricted. That means we are limiting ourselves and our own walk with Christ, when we do not support and love the rest of the body of which He is the head.

We are all “fearfully and wonderfully made”. (Psalm 139:14) Let’s learn to love each other with the love of Christ both in spite of, and because of our differences!

But if we are the body, why aren't His arms reaching? Why aren't His hands healing? Why aren't His words teaching? And if we are the body, why aren't His feet going? Why is His love not showing them there is a way? (If We Are The Body by Casting Crowns)

And God placed all things under [Jesus] feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:22-23)