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by Pam Braman
My body lets me know I’m getting older. Injuries take longer to heal. Weight goes on faster. My knees creak when I get up from kneeling.
So why don’t I get rid of my body? Well, it’s the only body I have. If I get rid of it, I die.
Then why do people say they can walk with God and be spiritually healthy without the church?
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). God has determined that we, the church, are to be the physical demonstration of Jesus to this world, but this body of Christ often seems to be like my body: injured, weak and creaking.
Many conclude it’s time to abandon the body and do spiritual life on their own, but how is it possible to be in Christ while rejecting His body? Some say as long as they follow Jesus they are part of the body of Christ, regardless of whether they belong to a local church.
But 1 Corinthians isn’t written to everybody. It’s written to “the church of God in Corinth” (1 Corinthians 1:2), a local church.
“God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,” according to 1 Corinthians 12:28, which implies a structure. The passage seems to suggest that belonging to the body of Christ is belonging to the organized church.
How can you play your part in the body of Christ (as we are called to do) if you remove yourself from any formal connection to other body parts? A foot can’t do it’s own thing and succeed (1 Corinthians 12:15).
I believe many people live as phantom limbs. They are convinced they are part of the body, but they have amputated themselves.
Be part of the body, and be prepared for a workout. The body needs to be in shape for the mission of saving others’ lives.
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