I’ve been noticing something within the body of Christ that is becoming more and more concerning. The lack of unity, the lack of oneness! Instead of living as part of the body of Christ, some of us are living like an abandoned child! Like we don’t belong! Why? What is really going on? I am genuinely confused. When I was part of the world, I could say I lived like I was abandoned. I had no guidance. Yes, I had a mother who did her best, but she too didn’t know God, so it was the blind leading the blind. I was living doing what I felt was right for me, making up my own rules as I went along. Yes, I had friends, but they definitely didn’t know any better than me. They, too, were swayed by the culture.
Something that is abandoned can mean to be forsaken or deserted, but it can also mean for something to be unrestrained, uncontrolled, and uninhibited. Yes, yes, and yes! That was my life before Christ. When I accepted Jesus into my heart, He scooped me up out of that deserted place I was in and He joined me to His body, and for the first time, I had a deep sense of belonging to something greater than myself! I quickly discovered that I wasn’t alone, and God’s plan for me was not to do His will by myself, but as part of a body of believers working together. So it wasn’t a surprise that the first thing He convicted me about was church and being part of a community! I had already had this false idea of church and Christians in general, but it was reading His word that challenged my feelings, and I accepted that God was right! Now, almost 4 years in, I know that I can’t be a Christian without being part of the body. It’s more than just attending church on a Sunday. It’s doing life together the rest of the week. Too many Christians believe that their relationship with God is all they need. They don’t have to add people to the mix. Their alone time with God is sufficient enough to see them through! What a big fat lie from the enemy! The enemy loves to keep you separated from the body so that you don’t work as you should. You take longer to complete the assignment that God gave you! And in that time of separation, he gets to work sowing seeds of doubt, making you more corruptible. Before you know it, you are drifting further and further away from Christ, and now you can no longer discern the voice of God from what you feel in your heart.
There are many reasons why Christians avoid attending the church and being a part of the community. Sometimes it’s complicated, people have been hurt before! It’s hard to trust when you have experienced trauma at the hands of the very people that are meant to safeguard you, the people that you trust to be the instruments of God. The other reason for people staying away is because it’s easier to live in your sin without accountability! You hold people at arms length because you don’t want anyone to speak into your life. You don’t want to be told to stop doing what you have grown to love doing. You have convinced yourself it’s ok. You are doing just fine as you keep telling yourself that God’s grace is sufficient enough. Thank you, God, that it is! But we mustn’t abuse it either. Another thing I have noticed is how easily offence has settled into the hearts of the Church. Someone doesn’t like how they were spoken to, or someone doesn’t like how they weren’t spoken to, either way, offence is taken, and the heart is hardened. Imagine a church that follows a ministry that promotes forgiveness and reconciliation but doesn’t have the grace to extend it to their brothers and sisters! What a joke!
ACTS 2:46 “EVERY DAY THEY CONTINUED TO MEET TOGETHER IN THE TEMPLE COURTS. THEY BROKE BREAD IN THEIR HOMES AND ATE TOGETHER WITH GLAD AND SINCERE HEARTS,” Imagine meeting with the people from your church everyday! Some of us can only muster 2 hours on a Sunday, we tell each other we are just too busy in our weeks to give anymore time. Church becomes secondary, and our 9-5 jobs and family duties take precedence. God is no longer first, and we become Cain instead of Abel, not giving God our first fruits, not honouring Him the way He deserves. In the book of Acts, the believers devoted themselves to fellowship, to breaking of bread, to prayer. They were together always, they had everything in common, they gave to anyone who had need, even if it meant selling their possessions and property! They were devoted to each other, which, in my opinion, was just an overflow of their devotion to God. So God added to their number DAILY those who were being saved! As we sit in our half filled churches, praying for chairs to be filled, asking for a move from God, lets ask ourselves if we are truly devoted to the body the way that is described in Acts! Maybe there, we may find our answer and our solution. I know we live in a different age to the believers of the bible, but I believe we can still uphold the same sincerity, devotion, and favour that has been left as a blueprint for us today.
Whether you want to accept it or not, you are part of the body! You are called to work together with the body, not separate from them. Imagine if someone chopped off your big toe, although the big toe is no longer a functioning part of the body, it is still your big toe, it just doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, it no longer fulfills it’s purpose! Don’t be the discarded part that doesn’t function the way it was designed to because you don’t want to be a part of the body. Jesus has one body, and He is the head! You don’t get to be your own body, separated from everyone else. You don’t get to be casual with the body either. You can’t step in and out when it suits you or when you feel like it. Be devoted. If you can’t do it for yourself, then do it to honour your Father in heaven. MATTHEW 22:37-39 “JESUS REPLIED: LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND. THIS IS THE FIRST AND GREATEST COMMANDMENT. AND THE SECOND IS LIKE IT: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” When asked which was the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus gave what on the surface may seem simple. But when we look at what it takes to love our neighbour, we see that it’s far from simple. People are hard work, so trust me when I say I get the draw to want to take Jesus without the body!
Although the body is made up of different people from different walks of life, it’s these differences that make being a part of a community so enriching. Regardless of our differences, we have so much in common, Jesus! Jesus is who unites us, who binds us, who draws us together in harmony. The body is the people who edify us, who encourage us daily, who petition us to God. When we disassociate ourselves from others, we miss out on the fullness of what God has for us. Blessings upon blessings!! If you are deliberately avoiding being a part of the body, then I emplore you to check your heart position! Yes, it’s a heart issue. Ask God to search your heart and to remove what offends Him. Trust me when I say you not wanting to tolerate the body is offensive! You are not forgotten, and you are definitely not abandoned, so please stop living like it. You have a job to do, like we all have, but your job is to work in harmony with the rest of us! Just like the big toe works in harmony with the other toes to bring balance. The big toe is useless if it is removed from the foot, but do you know what happens to the body without the big toe? Absolutely nothing! The foot learns to balance without the big toe and continues on, while the big toe is disgarded to the rubbish heap. That’s a word for someone, I’m sure!
EPHESIANS 4:15-16 “INSTEAD, WE WILL SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE, GROWING IN EVERY WAY MORE AND MORE LIKE CHRIST, WHO IS THE HEAD OF HIS BODY, THE CHURCH. HE MAKES THE WHOLE BODY FIT TOGETHER PERFECTLY. AS EACH PART DOES ITS OWN SPECIAL WORK, IT HELPS THE OTHER PARTS GROW, SO THAT THE WHOLE BODY IS HEALTHY AND GROWING AND FULL OF LOVE.” Yes, we all have our own special work to do, but do you see how our own work affects the growth of others? Do you see how you contribute to the health of others and the love that fills us up? There is no mission that is separate from the body. We are one! PERIOD. Let’s start acting like it. Let’s show the world what it means to truly love one another, to have Christ as the head. It’s the way we treat each other, the way we devote ourselves to each other, that is what will bring people to want to know who this Jesus is who we serve and worship. And God will add to us, just like He did in Acts! Because in the end, isn’t this what it’s all about? Not me, not you, but spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and making disciples. That is the great commission! That is why we labour together as one body under Christ! As the saying goes, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
MY CONVICTIONS 