In an article written a number of years ago, a psychologist attempted to describe the relationship of Christians with one another. He compared us to porcupines on a cold winter night. The cold drives us together in a close, tight huddle to keep warm. But as soon as we get so close that we start touching, we start jabbing one another with our sharp quills, scattering the huddle. But when it gets cold again, we move back toward one another to get warm, only to prick each other yet again.

And so we are constantly coming together then moving apart in a sort of religious dance. We need each other…yet we keep needling each other!

It's a bit dismaying to realize that you’re going to be spending eternity with people in the family of God you don’t even speak with on earth! Quite frankly, when someone has wounded us with his or her sharp quills, it’s natural to want to keep our distance. But we do need each other, needles and all!

Acts 2:42–47; Romans 12:9–16; 1 Corinthians 12:20–27

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