Every little kid in Sunday School knows the “Golden Rule” – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But for most of us, much of the time, that’s a struggle. It’s hard to love others just as much and in the same way that we love ourselves.

These two passages help us transform this rule from a duty into a way of life. For as Paul tells the Corinthians, if all Christians really are part of the same body, then isn’t loving others a natural extension of loving ourselves? Regardless of our cultural or socio-economic differences, doesn’t it make sense to care for those who not only love Christ as we do, but who are connected to us, just as closely as our hand is to our arm, or as our foot is to our leg?

If we really are part of one body, doesn’t it make sense to treat one another the way Paul instructs the Colossians? Let’s say you are running a race and you get a pain in your foot which slows you down. You don’t cut it off – you let it heal and build its strength so you can win the next time. So, doesn’t it make sense to forgive one another and build one another up in the same way?

But all of this is only possible if we truly are joined, not just to one another, but to Christ. As Paul told the Corinthians, the key is to be baptized with the Spirit of Christ, to be filled with Christ Himself. For He was nothing if not compassionate, kind, humble, meek and patient, even toward selfish sinners who abandoned Him and crucified Him. May He live His life within all His people today, binding us together in love, and truly making us His Body.

I Corinthians 12:12-14 (ESV)

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body– Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

Colossians 3:12-17 (ESV)

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.