Airline pilot Alan Cockrell said it wasn't a noble ideal that caused him to roll up his sleeves and help a ground crew clean the interior of his 737 one night in Nashville. He needed a ride home and one of the crew offered to take him. The sooner they finished, the sooner he'd get home.

As the pilot helped clean the overhead bins, wipe down the tray tables, and fold the seatbelts, he gained a new appreciation for the people whose role in the airline was much different from his.

There's a lesson here for us as Christians. The Bible describes our relationship to other believers as interdependent members of one body. God has built into His church an essential "eye-hand coordination." "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you; nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you'" (1 Cor. 12:21). Each believer is necessary and worthy of honor and appreciation by the others because "God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased" (v.18).

We can improve the appreciation level in the body of believers by taking note of the contribution others make. And that will make for a kind of eye-hand coordination we can all benefit from.  — David C. McCasland