Jan 27 2010
I Don’t Like This Body
By Mugs Manry
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
Throughout the last twenty years of my life, I have moved twelve times. Sometimes my family moved across the country, other times we moved across the world, and each time we prayed concerning our next church, “God, where would you have us be?” After asking this question, I would give God lots of hints. My hints would contain specific requirements such as: inspiring teaching, encouraging pastor, gifted worship leader, ministries for the children, a designated church building, and chairs that did not have to be put away.
I have come to realize over the years that God was not overwhelmingly concerned with my hints. So, sometimes, I did not want to listen to His answer. One such time, years ago, I was walking the dogs and praying, “Lord, why did you give me these dogs?” I asked this question every day of my two huskies’ lives. Then, there came a day when they were no longer there to walk. “But I love those dogs,” I told God.
The next question I asked God was, “Lord, why can’t we find a church?” As I walked, I poured my heart out to God concerning how difficult it was to find my ideal church. When I finally paused, I heard God’s quiet voice ask of me, “Why are you not where I called you to go?” I answered, “Because, I don’t want to go there, God.” The church God wanted me to attend did not comply with my hints, and was “too old fashioned.” Yet, when I had attended the church, I clearly sensed I should serve there. However, I did not like that body, so I went to some other churches to give God some more options.
Returning from the walk, I talked to my husband and we agreed to stop “kicking against the goads” and become part of the body God had chosen for us. Our time there was a difficult two years of ministry. The church was filled with many hurting people and for many members daily life was a struggle. Yet, God was faithful to mature us as He used us to minister to the other members.
Another church we attended met in a run-down rented space. There were often problems with the heating, lighting, and landlord. The Pastor didn’t have adequate space to do the ministry he desired. The building was a constant source of irritation. Yet, when the pastor was called to a different ministry, he lay on the floor of that building and wept. “But I love this place,” he told God.
As Christians we must understand: it is not where we want to be; it is where God wants us to be. We must spend our time praying and listening to God concerning where He would have us minister, instead of searching for a perfect ministry. We may not like the body to which God has called us to be a part. Yet, if we are faithful, He may grow in us a great love for the body and use us to effectively minister to and through that very body. Then one day, much to our surprise, we may say to God, “But I love this body.”
Dear Lord, I thank You that I am a part of the body of Christ. I praise You for making the body with so many different and unique parts. I want to honor You by being faithful to the body. Please change my heart, God, so I may minister to and love the other members of the body. I pray that as we love one another, You would use us to reach the world with the gospel. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Application Steps:
Make a list of your church’s members and pray for them. Look for opportunities to use your gifts to minister to other members. Encourage and support your church leadership. Be faithful where you are.
Reflections:
Where has God called you to serve?
Has focusing on what the body lacks distracted you from doing His work?
How can you demonstrate faithfulness to the body?
Power Verses:
1 Corinthians 12:17-18 (NIV) “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.”
Romans 15:7 (NIV) “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
I had to write a note and tell you how very much your posts inspire me. You are an excellent writer and more importantly a faithful child of God. I am so proud of the woman, wife and mother you are. What a joy to see how the benefits of a good Christian upbringing have shaped all the children in my sisters family! Praise God. Keep up the inspired writing and start that book!
Thanks Aunt Robin. I am ever grateful that My parents raised us all to follow after Jesus Christ. I am and continue to be blessed by their example to follow Christ no matter their life circumstances.
I’m glad to have found you folks again. My computer crashed and I had to start over from scratch. Give Rusty a hug for me please.
Amen Robin, thankyou Mugs for this and all devotions. I need them so much in my life. Be blessed.