By Thayer Salisbury
My grandfather owned a table saw. It was not a Delta,
or a Craftsman, or DeWalt. It was a home-made table
saw. Now I can highly recommend home-made bread,
home-made peanut butter, and even homemade soap;
but I have never seen a home-made table saw that I
trusted. That saw was an accident waiting to happen. A
really nice table saw may cost between $500 and $2000.
I do not know what my grandfather originally paid for
his saw, but about 1967 it almost cost him two fingers.
He was trying to rip a board when something slipped
and he sliced the first two fingers of his left hand
severing them almost completely. [That much is true;
the rest is parable.] For years people had been telling
him that they could keep the slightest of connections to
the body of Christ and still manage to remain spiritually
alive. So, my grandfather decided to test the claim. He
asked the doctor to just stem the bleeding, but not to
bother reconnecting the fingers to his hand. After all, if
members can remain spiritually healthy while barely
participating in the life of Christ’s body, why couldn’t
two of the members of his physical body remain healthy
while disconnected almost completely from his body?
His fingers died, of course. His body suffered for the
loss of those fingers, of course. But it was a noble
experiment and it proved what everyone should have
known, that the health of a member always depends on
the close connection of that member to the body.
“Now you are the body of Christ and individually
members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV).
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the
branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is
that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do
nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown
away like a branch and withers; and the branches are
gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned (John 15:4-
6, ESV).