Unity is in the Eye of the beholder...

I Corinthians 11:16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 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.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

How do you view the body of Chirst?  Paul used this imagery often, and here is one of the places he does so in detail.  In particular, he mentiones the "eye" more than once.  Someone cannot say "I am not an eye, so I'm not important." But the eye also cannot say "I don't need you" to any part of the body. These are the two sides of pride - focusing on oneself. We either have a pity party, thinking we are not good enough, so we walk away. Or, we think too highly of ourselves and drive other people away.  It's all in how we use our eyes: is with with envy? A haughty Spirit? Neither is the eye of Christ.  Rather than looking at another with envy at what we do not have, we should thank God that they have it to share with us (and let God do the convincing for them to do so. Rather than looking down on another who is struggling, we need to weep with them and share in their suffering.  This is the body of Christ.  Be a good part of it. May we clean the infection out of our eyes...