Exercising The Body of Christ

When reading this post feel free to do the "exercises" listed in here to get the full impact....I hope.

I have a hard time understanding people who don't fellowship and/or go to church on a regular basis. It is something I have always been a little confused about. Besides all the benefits that come from fellowship and going to church there are so many Scriptures in the Bible that tell us that we are one body, the Body of Christ...Just humor me for a minute and imagine your feet telling you they are not going where you are going today & are staying snuggled up in the covers. Your hands inform you that no they will not be making that coffee with you today. Your ears tell you that they don't want to go and listen to the music. Your eyes tell you that they are staying home planted in front of the TV. Pretty silly, huh? I mean your feet must get up and walk with you right? Your hands, well they will make the coffee.....right? Your ears, it's not like they are detached from your head---they will give you the music you enjoy.........right? Your eyes, the 'windows to the soul'---they need to go with you, after all they are part of your head & they must go see everything you want to see.................right?

Well, how about this?:

1) Right now where you are sitting, lift your arm and try and scratch your head without bending at the elbow. -come on do it.

2) Go get a shoe, one that ties, and put it on and tie your shoe without using your middle finger or your thumbs. -it might be getting done, longer of course.

3) Stand up. Come on humor me, stand up. Now sit down without bending your knees.-How is that working out for you?

4) Look at your baby toe---when was the last time you thought about your baby toe? You don't. Until you slam it against the leg of the coffee table and then what happens? Your entire world stops. You stop whatever you are doing and limp, wince, get ice, it swells up red, then purple....Wow! That little insignificant toe.....right? (grab the ibuprofen the pain is shooting up my leg!)

"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we though many, form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us..... " Romans 12:4-6 (NIV)

"Just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body--whether Jews or Gentiles , slave or free---and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NIV)

"If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 2 Corinthians 12:26-27

As you can read from the Scriptures above, the Lord did not intend for us to live apart from each other. There is a specific plan for each and every one of us---even those people who think they may play a small part or are insignificant (baby toes) your part is a huge part of how the Body functions because as you see from the exercises above--the whole Body stopped what it was doing to take care of that part of the body--the little insignificant, did not know it was there, baby toe.............That baby toe must play an HUGE part in the way the Body functions.....You limp when it hurts, you pay attention to it when it is not functioning properly---don't you?

We all count. We all have a specific purpose in God's plan to do the will of Him through the Body of Christ. No one is too little or too big. No one is insignificant or more needed than another---all our body parts need each other to function---one part gets sick or injured....it effects your entire body....Think about it.

You can't leave your feet behind in the bed to snuggle when the rest of you goes somewhere else....We are all connected.......We all need each other.