Ephesians 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; (NASB)
I knew a friend who suffered a work accident a few years ago. His thumb was cut off while he was cutting logs. All it took was one second to miscalculate. One of his coworkers had to find his thumb, put in on ice and give it to the nurse at the ER so they could reattach it.
I had a few questions when this happened. How long can the thumb be detached before it cannot be reattached? This also made me think of people in the church. How long can someone be away from church before they can reattach themselves? Is there a time period? For a finger, it can be 12 hours in a warm environment before it cannot be reattached. When a person leaves the body of Christ, we don’t find out until they have been gone for weeks. What we know is that the longer they stay away from the body, the harder it will be for them to come back and be reattached to the body. My encouragement is that if you see someone leaving the body of Christ, help them come back! Help them get reattached.