12 Months to a Fit (Church) Body: 10

So we’ve mixed metaphors a little with this exercise and healthy body metaphor.  I’ve talked about church being both like a body and like a gym. As the body of Christ, we are to be connected to each other to the point of movement.  We are to be a healthy organ with a functional purpose. A gym is where you go to work out, have spotters, be encouraged, and strengthen your body while burning away excess fat.  They’re good metaphors, and I’d like to mix them a little more.
Rather than a gym being where you go to be healthy, it should be just one place you go to be healthy.  Not the only place. Church (the Sunday morning building) should not be the one time and place you challenge your mind, purify your soul, and strengthen your relationship with God.  
If a person joins a gym, it’s because they recognize the need for a healthier body.  They don’t go to the gym for a big one hour workout, then go home and dip fried chicken in Rocky Road ice cream the rest of the week.  By no means! When a person recognizes the need for health, their whole life changes. There’s a difference between a gym member and a healthy person, just like there’s a difference between a Christian and a healthy soul.
That healthy soul is called a “disciple.”  Jesus didn’t say with his final commission, “Go out and sell the idea of church membership to the ends of the earth.”  He said in Matthew 28: 19, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” A disciple is someone who follows Christ day in and day out, striving to line up their mind and their soul and their actions with the example and perfect teachings of Christ.  
Why?  Because he is the head.  If we have purpose, it’s only in his body.  If we have value, it’s maximized in his body.  And he’s on the move. Buy into the body, but not just once a week.  Take some time to read Isaiah 58, the prophet makes clear what pleases God - not a once a week show, but a daily life of love and compassion, dedication and discipline, justice and holiness. 
None of those things are easy, and they’re not just for our own chiseled spiritual abs, but so we may be a limber, ready, and fit group of cells awaiting the activating call to bringing His kingdom in this world as a part of His body.  See you at the water fountain.