I was visiting my chiropractor this afternoon and he said something to me that resonated loudly in my spirit. He said, "The body does not have spare parts." The body does not have spare parts.

Now, his comment was in a response to me, but, the comment also has a much larger and more important connection. Paul, the apostle, draws many parallels around the body of Christ, that is the church, being similar to our individual bodies.

Romans 12:1-8 talks about our place within the body of Christ on earth. Each of us is given gifts when we become believers and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. They are spiritual gifts, not skills and talents although there may be some crossover. Or, there may not. These are special, new gifts, of energy and calling to be used in the body of Christ for the benefit of the body.

Some people do not even realize they have been given spiritual gifts. So, they never use them. Others think that they now can do all the things that the gifts imply, and never grow into them. But, because they are new, they are not mature gifts. They need to emerge and we need to learn about them and how they work in order to be used properly in them by God. More discussion on that later.

So now we have two things. We have gifts which we need to do discovery on and then we have the growth into the gifts and spiritual maturity so that we can be used within the Kingdom of God. God commands us, in the Great Commission, to seek out others, and help them understand these same opportunities and responsibilities as our part of the body life of Christ.

How do we do this? There are both processes and principles laid out in the Word of God, The Bible, which let us know that path to both God and maturity. These are the how of the growth process. Then there are activities and outcomes that are also laid out in the Scriptures. These are the why.

In order to accomplish things, we need a why. Just saying it is the thing to do is typically not enough to move our lives and habits toward permanent change. And change we must. It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing we have always done and expecting a different result.

We cannot hope to accomplish what God has for us to do unless we become closer to Him in both thinking and acting. This will require change. It is said that you cannot break a habit or an addiction unless you really desire to make that change enough to do the things necessary to succeed at defeating the negative life pattern. That is the why. Then you need to know how to accomplish the change. The how is reflected in the actions and processes necessary to change the habit or addiction, be relevant in our lives and effective in our growth.

The why is an individual thing. For some, their love for God is enough to drive the why. For others it may be family, or a deep discomfort for the way in which their life has progressed. For many of us, myself included, it took a crisis to cause me to realize that I had grown comfortable with my life in Christ, but had not grown closer to God, either in lifestyle, or in relationship, both necessary to experience the joy that is a focus on God and His Kingdom.

Do you have a why? Have you come far enough in your growth within the body of Christ that you desire to serve our Lord and Savior with all of your being? You can! If you are ready, you will want to explore this website and the relevant Scripture online or in your Bible. If you have questions, please connect with me using the information on the contact page. If you see things that are helpful, you may want to recommend this site to your friends and fellow believers.*

 

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