12 Months to a Fit (Church) Body: 2

​Last month’s newsletter article announced that this year we’d be working out a goal of our little church having a “fit body.”  If THE Church is the body of Christ (all the churches in the world), and Christ is the head, it would be quite monstrous to imagine the perfect head atop a partially obese - partially starving, partially healthy - partially cancerous, partially strong - partially weak, partially stagnant - partially growing body.  Perhaps that’s what it looks like to some.
But we aren’t helping when we merely point it out because WE are a part of the body.  If THE Church is the body of Christ, OUR church (First Christian Cisco) is an organ. A body is made up of organs, and organs are made up of cells.  YOU are the cells. An organ is as healthy as the makeup of its cells. That means WE have a vested interest in YOUR health and YOU have a vested interest in OUR health!  
Step one in our 12 months to a fit church body is this:  define your motivation. No athlete goes through the discipline, routines, repetitions, sweat and tears just for the fun of it.  They want something. What do you want for the church? What do you want from the church? What is your role in our health?
So look in the mirror.  Are you as healthy a cell in the body of Christ as you would like to be?  
Do you need some motivation?  Paul says “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.” - 1 Cor. 9: 24-27
Or are you already motivated and want to help coach others? That’s what Jesus instructs us to do, what the disciples did, and is what Paul was talking about at the end of his life when he shared with Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” -2 Tim 4: 7
Or does the very word motivation makes you aware of how worn out you already are?  This month we will be reflecting on that very topic, as Jesus stated, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28
God is the god of life.  Our life is a gift. Let us not take it for granted, spend it on meaningless things, or live it on autopilot.  Let us be motivated to live the way He made us: together.
See you at the water fountain.