The Body of Christ

When Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper for His disciples, He said, "This is my body which is given for you... " (Luke 22:19) referring to how He came and gave up His body for the salvation of all of humankind through His love, work and sacrifice.

Jesus' life and body was devoted to God. His time on earth was in service to God for the sake of the world...for our sake. For Christians who seek Him, His blood runs in our veins and He desires us to become more like Him. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul declared that we are the body of Christ.

"Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it." - 1 Corinthians 12: 27

Yet, how few of us devote our bodies for God's use for the Kingdom.

We are too busy chasing after what we can attain in this earthly life before time runs out. Our concerns are for our own appetites, comfort, success, happiness, and satisfaction. We have all but forgotten what it means to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ.

We are in a struggle between Light and Darkness. Wars, division, injustice, poverty, crime, prejudice and devastation are overflowing in our world because it is so far from Him. Yet the main focus in our lives is for God to boost our career, improve our love life, help our finances and keep us happy. What happened to the salvation of the world, or the end of injustice, or the revival of God's people?

So many Christians are resigned to the fact that the world is a sinful place, but instead of praying for the restoration of the world to God, we accept it as it is and pray that God will pick us up in the Rapture to get us OUT of here.

Christ's mission was to bring the Love of God to the world, not to condemn it, give up hope and walk away from it. As His followers, He asks us to commit ourselves to God's service. He needs us.

As Christians, Jesus is calling us to put our lives aside to follow in His footsteps and live as He lived.

"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." -Matthew 10: 38-39

Jesus taught us how to pray, how to live and how to love so we can pass it around. We know we are weak and don’t live very much like Christ, but we must change our direction towards Him and away from ourselves. He gave each of us special gifts, but we never use those gifts for His Kingdom. It is time for us to grow up.

"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." - 1 Corinthians 13:11

Jesus says He will return soon, but what will He find?

As Christ's body here on earth, we are His eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, mind and heart. We must look for what He wants to show us, listen to what He wants to teach us, speak out when the Spirit beckons us, do the things that need to be done, go where He needs us to go, learn and understand the wisdom of God and have the love and compassion that brings it all together.

Jesus told us what He expects from us as His disciples: "And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give." - Matthew 10:7,8

Most of us will say, "But, I am not able to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse any lepers or cast out demons!" Yes, but as servants of God armored with His power, hope and love, we can aid in the healing of those who are sick with pain, rejection, loneliness or loss. We can lift up the spirit of someone who has died inside. We can help cleanse someone of a malady that is plaguing their soul and we can help someone kick out an evil spirit that has taken over their lives.

Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father." - John 14:12

We are the living breathing Body of Christ. Let us live as Jesus lived.

Amen.

"Head of Christ" by Leonardo da Vinci, c.1495

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