Skip to main content

What a Body! -- Part 1

If you were to ask me what the five most important things are in the life of a Christian, I would tell you that right up there near the very top of the list would be for them to be an active part of a local body of believers. 

I absolutely LOVE the church! Yes, I love my church, but I love God's church!  I love the divine design of the church.  I love how God uniquely equips different people with all sorts of gifts and then when they are brought all together, you get to see a beautiful picture of God's handiwork.

Ephesians chapter four has always been a favorite passage of mine concerning the church because Paul does something here that I truly appreciate in Scripture  -- he draws a a word picture.  He very practically compares the church to a human body.

"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.  From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."  Ephes. 4:15-16

Not only do we see from these verses that God desires maturity and spiritual growth from the body and its members, but we see that we all have something to contribute.  God specifically created YOU to do what only YOU can do for the body as a whole.  Just like in a physical body, the spiritual body only functions at its best when all of its parts (the believers) are healthy and doing what they were created to do.

One of my pet peeves is to hear the church referred to as a building.  The church never has been, nor was ever intended to be viewed as a location or a building.  Christ's followers are the church!  YOU and I are the church! 

So, if we are the body, and if God designed us to bring our gifts together to participate in Kingdom work, then why are local churches closing their doors in greater number than anytime in history?  Why are statistics for worship attendance continuing to plummet every year?

Ask yourself this:
 
"Am I missing out on some of the blessings that God has planned for me as a believer because I have been "Missing in Action" from the local body of believers?"
  • Perhaps you've recently moved and you haven't gotten settled in a local body yet. 
  • Perhaps you don't attend regularly because you're spouse doesn't want to go with you.
  • Perhaps the last time you went, you felt out of place or didn't feel welcomed.
  • Perhaps your bed on Sunday mornings is just too stinkin' comfy and warm!
Whatever your reason is, don't let it stand in your way any longer.  Hebrews 10:25 tells not to forsake gathering with the body.  It tells us that we will receive encouragement by doing so.

Because I love the church so much, I'll be returning to this topic tomorrow to offer some reassurance to anyone who might not have the same fondness towards the church as I do because of a negative past experience with a local body of believers.  Your leariness is understood, but I don't want you to completely throw in the towel! 

For now, take a moment to stop and pray.  For some of you, you need to praise and thank God for the blessing of the local body that you are a part of.  For others, you might need to ask Him to open your heart and mind to giving the church a second chance. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heartfelt Reflections of a Country Church

The smells, sounds, and people of country churches stir an emotion within me that is deep and powerful. For those who have never had the opportunity to experience this blessed experience, let me explain.   From the moment you step into the vestibule (never called a foyer in a rural church), you instantly smell the footsteps of every person who has crossed that threshold - the mother with a load of kids in tow, the farmer, the truck driver, the wayward child. If those paneled walls could talk, they would tell of grace and guilt and sorrow and joy that couldn’t be hidden on the faces of the souls that dared to cross that doorway. Those walls would write books of clinched fists, tears on the altar, and singing from the saints. The smell of the aged carpet, whose color may have caused an outright quarrel in a business meeting, the creak of the floor, and the golden memorial tags lead you to a nostalgic thing of days gone by - a pew, padded if you’re lucky.   As you wait for the ob...
Post a Comment
Read more

I love my kids, BUT. . . .

"Schoolhouse Rock" was one of mine and my husband's favorite educational past times.  Bob Dorough, writer for "Schoolhosue Rock," was a genius when he put educational factoids to quirky music and cute cartoons.  From the preamble to the Constitution, to parts of speech, multiplication facts, how electricity works, and much more, Mr. Dorough slyly disguised learning and actually made it fun! Like all good parents, we passed this educational relic on to our kids.  One of our favorite songs from "Schoolhouse Rock" is without a doubt " Conjunction Junction ."  Its jazzy rhythm easily gets stuck in your head for the rest of your day ( sorry in advance! ).  This song teaches how conjunctions mechanically work in a sentence and what their purpose is.  The conjunction 'BUT' is one that we use all the time to connect two sentences or a clause to a sentence. "I like pizza,  BUT  I don't like olives on it." "I want to...
2 comments
Read more

Taking the Mask Off

If I’ve learned anything over the last few weeks of wearing masks when going out in public, it’s that wearing a mask makes it hard to breathe.   The trapped air recirculating in and out gets thick and burdensome. The same is true for the invisible mask I wear on the days that I’m trying to hide the reality of what’s going on below the surface.   There comes a point when the air that has gotten trapped between my invisible mask and my unfortunate reality gets so heavy that ripping it off and gasping for a dose of fresh, life-giving oxygen is the only remedy.   ( Cue the proverbial mask selfie that everyone has had to take during quarantine. ) I think many of us frequently wear a mask, intentionally or unintentionally, to hide the reality of what’s underneath. We mask up to present a façade. A watered-down version of the true us. A suffocating misrepresentation of our current existence.  We’re all guilty.  One of my favorite person...
16 comments
Read more