Cells in the Body

At the moment of conception, two partial cells join into one complete cell. That cell immediately divides into two; the two into four; four into eight until the completed adult body contains around three trillion cells. At a certain stage in this explosion of division, cells reach a final stage. Here is a neuron in the spinal column; there a muscle cell and over there a bone cell. Each cell has its assigned location and function. Only in mutations or interrupted cell duplication do cells end up in the wrong place. Each cell lives only with extreme difficulty outside of its assigned place. Cells removed from the body tend to die rapidly even when supported with advanced technology. Each cell lives only to contribute to the whole body its special function and contribution. The digestive cells break down and absorb nutrients. Nerve cells convey messages and give the ability to think, remember and reason. Tongue cells "taste" the watermelon. Hearing cells carry the voice of the beloved to our brain. Each cell is bathed in a sea of blood which brings what the cell needs and carries away its wastes and products. We, the born-again individuals are like cells in the body of Christ. We have our own assigned places and functions. We can live only with great difficulty outside of the body of Christ. Our contributions support the life of the body and the body supplies the nutrients and other essentials for our growth and livelihood. And we are all bathed in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who is our supply of nourishment and carries away the waste products of our life. He mediates our interactions and brings to us individually those things supplied by the other members of the body-the hormones of growth and function, the immunization others have learned from their contact with the world and themselves and the instructions for the second-by-second living that is our place in the body and in the world. Our purpose, our pleasure, our existence is based on being in the body. 06.1.07