Exposed

While I was out walking one day I passed an older car that was obviously out of commission. It was propped up, suspended if you will, on two jacks and the entire front of the body was missing. Believe it or not that image spoke to me in so many ways that are difficult to explain but I will try. The very first thing that I saw was how very ugly it looked. It was old, had been abused and very worn down with the internal workings exposed and now very unable to do what it was made to do. 

This is the first thing that spoke to me. . . . . Our thought processes sometimes can keep us suspended, just like that car, unable to grow or even desiring an attempt to fix the things that are wrong in our lives. We hang there, exposed and suspended, remaining content to stay in the place where we are. As I looked at that old beaten up, worn down car being held up by two metal arms or jacks, it also reminded me of the beautiful responsibility that we have within the body of Christ to use our arms to hold one another up. It says in I Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing". Now that is a beautiful image and responsibility to have. It's also absolutely necessary within the kingdom of God. There are times that we are weak and can't seem to stand on our own but God has placed people in our paths, brothers and sisters in the faith, that will hold your arms up and give you added strength to stand during those weak times. We also may see others within the body, possibly young overwhelmed mothers who need a day out but have no one to call on for childcare. Or you may see lonely and hurting people sitting quietly alone on Sunday mornings who may just need a friendly smile and word of encouragement or possibly someone to invite them for a Sunday afternoon lunch. Our arms need to reach out to them. There also may be elderly people who just need a ride to the grocery store or Dr's. office but don't go because they have no one to take them. Arms reaching down to weed the grounds of our house of worship or reach out to say "yes" I can help clean or vacuum or paint! I could go on and on but I'm sure you get the idea and see the great need. Our arms are supposed to look like Jesus' arms. You remember those arms. . . . . . Exposed and suspended for every one of us. This is how we are to be the church in the flesh. If we desire to be a mirror image of the Lord then should we not try and do what He did? This seems to me to be the very core of relationship. Jesus was and always will be our ultimate example. He was around his people, his disciples, all the time. They ate together, they walked great distances traveling together. It's maybe a little more difficult to envision but they probably bathed together in the rivers and streams along the way. They were there for one another, learning together, ministering together, praying together and in relationship learning from the master teacher and in turn teaching others as well later on. This is where it all happened. This is one of the models of the ground work that shaped relationship. We are like those disciples, all students that will ultimately become the teachers. We have to get this thing called relationship! Being Christ to others, his arms extended holding one another up doesn't end outside of the four walls of the places of worship. The kingdom of God is now, forever and always needing to be like outstretched arms of Christ. 

I do realize some of us have large families, busy work schedules, schooling and so on. What if your ministry went beyond the schedules and so on? What if your ministry went beyond the schedules you have set for yourself? What if the gift inside of you was meant to minister to someone and that put you a little out of your comfort zone? Would we still be willing to use our arms to hold others up when they're worn down and defeated? What if the "jacks" in our lives, the things that keep us suspended, were knocked out from under us? What areas of our lives would be exposed? Lots of questions I know but really. . . . . . . What would that look like?