Song 1; Song 2; Song 3; Song 4; 1 Corinthians 12:1-26; Psalm 99:1-9

I had to laugh as I read through today’s soul feed passages.  Song of Solomon and 1 Corinthians both do a fair amount of discussion about body parts.  Though the Songs may be an uncomfortable read for some, I think it’s significant that these two sections of scripture, Old Testament and New, are presented to us here on the same day.  I think it helps us understand each one a little better.

In Song of Solomon, we read of a deep love and how, out of that deep love, the lover sees every detail of his beloved.  As he begins to call out body parts, we become uncomfortable – even red-faced.  Yet, viewed in it’s entirety, Song of Solomon is a picture of the perfect, heavenly God in love with his people – a people who, in his eyes, are perfect in every way.

Now, it is only by God’s grace that he sees us as perfect, because we certainly aren’t.  But the illustration of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians reminds us that our “belonging” in the body isn’t dependent on our own feelings or attitude, but God’s.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.

How great that our own sense of self-worth is trumped by the value that God places on us.  We are part of his body – an important part – even if we don’t feel like we are.