A Lesson from our Nerves

One of our unique systems God designed for us is our nervous system. Because of our nervous system we can experience touch, a sense of smell and taste, sight, respond to danger and more. Our nervous system acts as the communication lines for our body. Each part uses those lines to communicate to the central processor - our brain. When those lines are broken, this path of communciation is interrupted and we face significant consequences.

God has also designed the church in such a way that we each are a part. We may be the feet, the eyes, the ears, the hands and more. Jesus is the head of the church. For a church to be healthy there needs to be a solid communicating relationship between the parts and with the head. When communication is broken either between the different parts or with the head, this creates major problems.

Sometimes the parts may be communicating but sending messages that have corrupted information - such as gossip, grumbling, slander, and more. This destroys the health of the body.

How would you describe your most recent communication to other members of Christ's church?

Fuzzy Vision

Several years ago I noticed that driving at night had become uncomfortable because the headlights would be glaring and the street signs became harder to read. So I made an appointment with my optomitrist to get some driving glasses. When he examined me he said that I didn't need driving glasses but bifocals. This made me feel old, but the doc had correctly identified that I had problems in both distance and up close.

We recently invited a fresh set of "eyes" to help our church in an evaluation of who we are and what we are doing in ministry. In completing the first step of the process, the "doc" has correctly identified our situation. The area of greatest weakess relates to our leadership. Somehow over time our vision has become blurred. We have gone along thinking that we are on track but somehow have become derailed. We need to get some corrective lenses and make some adjustments.

In the book of James, we read that the Bible is like a mirror that gives us a correct reflection of who we are. When we see reality in a mirror, we have the option to do something about it. We can make the changes necessary or we can ignore them.

My prayer is that my life and ministry will always be open to God's correction and that living close to the risen savior my spiritual vision will be renewed.