40 Day Journey - Day 36

March 27
Fast Unwholesomeness  

Matthew 18:12-14
What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
        While we spend much time focused on the healthy numbers in the fold, the lost and hurting are always the priority of the Heavenly Father.
        When there is a part of our body that is hurting it demands our full attention. The same should be true within the body of Christ -the church. It can become easy to overlook the one who has left, or is suffering when our attention is on those who remain or are doing well. Body ministry is just that, "body ministry." Within the physical body every part begins to function to bring healing. Jesus used this story to show the Father's concern over the one lost sheep and the great joy over its return - more emotion is shown for that one than the other ninety-nine. This does not mean that the others aren't of the same value, it simply means that there is one who got outside the Father's field and is in great danger and the Father's concern won't be satisfied until that one is safely back into His kingdom.
        Today it is our function as a body of believers to grow healthy in The Lord and if we are going to truly grow in The Lord we must take on His character - as we do we will also learn the importance of the one lost or the one hurting sheep.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.15Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
 
Unwholesomeness: bad for the well-being of the body
 
Fast unwholesomeness by showing care for the church body, from a call to a visit, From a text to a card, ask yourself, “What can I do today for the well-being of my church family – especially the one who seems to be drifting outside the fold.