Is Your Church Handicapped?

Have you ever heard anyone make the comment that so-and-so "doesn't have a leg to stand on"? Most likely they were telling you that whatever so-and-so was claiming or trying to prove would not hold up. This not "having a leg to stand on" has obviously been something that has come up every day, many times a day, over the past five weeks. Sitting here with my broken leg propped high on pillows, I have had many moments to meditate on how important it is to have a leg to stand on.

Knowing that I still have one good leg, I thought that I could still hobble around and do most anything. Wrong! The constant reminder of my handicap pops up in a continual popping-corn fashion, as I try to just carry on simple tasks. I can stand (balanced against the stove with one hand on the walker) to make a cup of tea in the microwave. But try as hard as I might, I cannot carry the tea, via walker or via wheel chair, to sit down and enjoy it. And there are many such simple things I tend to take for granted, that I just cannot do in this season of life. (Season -- this too shall pass...Amen and Amen!)

I have learned to employ my teeth, my 'arm pit grip', and 'my between the thighs grasp'. I have discovered the most important use for a recycled Walmart bag: If my husband puts one on the counter, I can put the peanut butter, raspberry jam, plate and knife in the bag. Then balancing my toast in my teeth, I can carry the bag hanging from my walker, and hop to my chair to have my breakfast. All the while...trying to not bite my toast and lose it. Sometimes, I have decided that it is just too hard to have breakfast.

Needless to say, little things that are part of our daily regime have become mountains that sometime seem uncrossable.

This morning, I lay on the floor, forcing my leg to exercise as it must, if I will walk again soon. I suddenly thought, "Is the church handicapped?" In I Corinthians 12, we read that each part of the body has a function to carry out and that each part must function for the other parts to function unhindered. I get it! I mean, I really get it. I am now wearing a brace on my left hand. My shoulders and my wrists are suffering because they are trying to carry the weight of my body. Yet shoulders and wrists were not made to carry that weight. Legs were! Because my left leg is doing nothing, but hanging there, my right leg is struggling to remain balanced and is having to stand holding double the weight it was created for. My right hip is groaning and complaining. My whole body is affected because one part is basically caught up with itself (finding comfort and healing for itself). This is not new revelation to anyone. We know these things. But do we get it? Is your church handicapped?

The church is the body of Christ. So, is the body functioning properly? Is each part doing its part? What is your part? Are you operating in your gifting, or in your place of service? This morning, as I was lifting my left leg, and straining to get it to straighten with my right leg, the thought occured to me that it is time for the body of Christ to exercise, to prepare, to correct, or to work toward each member operating fully and completely as they were created to do. You see, it would be so easy for my leg to settle with the fact that it is handicapped...not able to function as it should. But the handicap does not stop there...it is passed on to my whole being. And that is just what the scripture says about the body of Christ: "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." I Cor. 12:26

Are you functioning? Or is your church handicapped?

Just some challenging questions I thought I'd pass on to stir up the gift within you.