Moving Parts

My baby boy marvels me. The other day as he sat in his stroller watching his Papa eat a hot hog he began to flap his arms up and down. Seeing that this amused his parents he continued with a huge smile on his face. Also, when he gets his pants changed his new trick is to pull on his toes and rock from side to side. Lately he has been waking himself up and flipping over in bed from tummy to back. He is not an overly rambunctious child, but when he is awake he is making some part of his body move. If I was in movement as much as he is those extra baby pounds would have melted away long ago.

So I was thinking about my baby’s pursuit of discovery and a thought popped into my head. I thought about the body of Christ, which is comprised of the members of His church as stated in Ephesians. Our natural human body wants to move. The church body should also naturally want to be in movement. Just like my new baby wants to move and learn, a new Christian should also want to become an active member of the body of Christ by trying and learning new things.

Recently a relatively new Christian, an elderly man, in our church body sought my advice. Some well meaning members of his family had told him that he was taking this whole “Christian thing” too fast. They told him to slow down and not be so extreme. He asked me if that was correct. I quickly assured him that volunteering as an usher, attending bible school and being at church whenever the doors were open was not causing damage to his spiritual well being. Quite the contrary, all the activity was aiding and solidifying his growth.

Church is much, much, much more than just an entertaining show or a social club. Being part of a church means being part of a body. Bodies naturally want to move and grow. What are you doing as a response to this natural process? Don’t wait until you have it all figured out; you can learn along the way from members that have been exercised a bit more. Don’t wait until someone asks you to help; jump in there and become active. It is natural that you be a vital moving part of the body of Christ.