I'd like to express my appreciation to the participants in the 2014 writing workshop. Clicking on their names will take you to their featured devotions, if you missed any of them. Gina Grove, Dawn Schulz, Justin Slominsky, Ben Bain, Jenni Mickelson, Carl Heling, Mike Peek, and Tracy Siegler.
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Body-Building
by Tracy
Siegler
It is Sunday morning. In
church entryways and fellowship halls around the world, Christians are greeting
one another.
“Good morning!”
“Good morning! How are
you?”
“Fine, how are you?”
“I’m good.”
“Do you think that storm they’re talking about is going to hit
us?”
“I hope not, we have a picnic to go to this afternoon.”
That’s a pretty typical exchange. How often do the conversations in your church entryway
stay at that level? Do you ever see
people hugging in your fellowship hall?
What about tears? Is there much
exuberant laughter in the lobby of your church?
Do people have a look of earnestness in their eyes as they speak to
their brothers and sisters in the Lord?
Our Lord tells us, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each
one of you is a part of it.” (1 Cor 12:27) We are the body of Christ? That sounds a little strange at first, but
it’s actually quite a beautiful analogy God uses in his Word to describe how
his believers on earth are connected to Jesus and to one another. Christ is described as the head, and we the
members are each a unique and essential part of his figurative body. “From [Christ] the whole body, joined and
held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love,
as each part does its work.” (Eph 4:16)
What a wonderful picture! There
is support. There is love. There is
work. There is connectedness. All of it is from Christ, our head.
It gets even better! The
head of our body doesn’t just direct and connect. He also sacrificed. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up
for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the
word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or
wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:25-27) Christ
really did that for us – even if that’s not the immediate impression we get
when we look around in the fellowship area.
We
are full of stains of sin and wrinkles of worry and blemishes of bad
decisions. But by his amazing grace, even
as we continue to struggle with sin and worry and bad decisions, we are
radiant, holy, and blameless in Jesus! He
makes each one of us a perfect, unique, essential part of his body. With that in mind, our conversations can get
a little deeper and more personal. We
might make ourselves a little more vulnerable.
We might get a little more invested.
“Good morning!”
“Good morning, how are you?”
“I’m good – just tired.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine – it’s just that yesterday the kids
were bickering and fighting all day long. By the time they were finally in bed
we were so exhausted and frustrated that we stayed up way too late watching a
movie. I hope I don’t start nodding off
during the sermon.”
“Ugh. We’ve had days
like that. They are exhausting. Should we
sit behind you and poke you in the shoulder from time to time?”
(laughing) “Maybe you should!
Hey, whatever works, right? Anyway, what about you?”
“Doing well. We are
really excited to go to a picnic this afternoon. Did I tell you about that neighbor of ours
who has been going through cancer treatment?”
“You did. How is he
doing?”
“He’s good! He finished
his treatment. His most recent scans
were clear. The treatment was
successful.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!
So many answered prayers…”
“Yup, so this afternoon they are having a picnic to celebrate,
and we are planning to go. I just hope
it doesn’t rain…”
Jesus, our head, gives us opportunities to build one another
up, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.” (Eph 4:13) As we express genuine interest in our fellow
believers, and as we share our own hopes, fears, joys, and struggles in a way
that is more intimate than casual, we are building up the body of Christ!
When we talk to each other about how God’s word applies to the intimate
details of our lives, the word of Christ dwells in us richly as we teach and
admonish one another with all wisdom. (Col 3:16) Encouraging one another in our lives of faith
through the Word, the Holy Spirit works in us.
The body of Christ increases in unity, in knowledge of the Son of God,
and in maturity. Day by day, the body of
believers grows closer to attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ. Together we look forward to the day when we enter into our heavenly fellowship
hall, and that process will be complete.
Suggestions for Prayer
... Praise God for his beautiful design for
the family of believers.
... Confess times when you have not taken the
time or risked the intimacy of investing yourself in your brothers and sisters
in Christ.
... Thank Jesus for making you a member of his
body, for giving you the other parts of the body for mutual support and
encouragement, and for his sacrificing headship.
... Ask the Lord to work within the body of
believers so that we grow in unity, knowledge of him, and maturity.
Thanks for the encouragement!
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