Day 29 - You Were Made For Action

Read 1 Corinthians 12

Atrophy is described as “a wasting away of the body, or an organ, or part, as from disuse.” Simply put, if a body part lies dormant it atrophies. It becomes weaker and weaker and if it lies there long enough disease can set in.

My stepfather Jim had a love for classic sports cars and he owned a 1961 green MGA fixed head coupe and a red convertible ’81 Triumph Spitfire roadster. They were restored and are sharp looking vehicles.  However, it was his ‘58  blue Austin Healy Sprite ‘bug eye’ Roadster with it’s right-hand drive, right from the Great of  Britain that was my favorite.  Every spring they would come out of the barn. He would put the battery back in, warm up the engine, check the necessary lubrication, cross his fingers and hope they were ready for a drive on the lazy roads of Belwood!   Cars are built to be driven and after winter he has to do the necessary checks to get them into gear.  Left alone, seals would begin to harden and crack, parts would begin to lose lubrication and stiffen up, causing its life expectancy to go down dramatically or result in a major breakdown.

The same goes for the human body. Your body is meant to move. The apostle Paul describes what a church is like by calling it a body.  If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. (1 Corinthians 12:15) I want you to think about what it would be like if your left foot decided to pack it in – “I have been holding things up around here way too long; I am out of here.” You could still move, but it would be with great difficulty and it would put strain on your whole right side.

Listen, if you call Grace Community Church your “body” but are not functioning as a part of the body then unknowingly you are hurting the body.  If you stay that way – if you stay atrophic, you will get sick, then   infected and eventually you will be contagious in a bad way because you where made for a purpose. Body members have a function; they are made for action!  You where made for action and you where made for service. A united community is a community that moves, that is, actively doing what each part of the body was gifted and created to be.