Seeing the Body, Anonymous

I began to meet with the local church when I was in the eighth grade. I actually started meeting because of my mother, who for the last six years had been going from church to church looking for a place to find some sort of spiritual satisfaction. So, it wasn't really my choice to be here at all, but my parent's.

Throughout my high school years, I really enjoyed the church meetings I attended, but I felt the same level of happiness as at the previous churches I attended, although the teachings in the local church were a little deeper. But overall, I felt the local church I was in was good and I had seen the “Body of Christ” in this locality.

I praise the Lord, however, that in my college years I got a chance to go blend with other local churches in the United States during our Spring break (1 Corinthians 12:24). It was this trip that gave me a greater vision and greater appreciation of the universal Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23). When we visited other local churches, the brothers and sisters took us in and took care of us as if we were one of their own children, even though they had never seen us before. Even though there weren't many outward things in common, what we did share in common was that we all loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is actually the most important thing. Our backgrounds or experience did not matter; our common factor was Christ, and what those believers displayed to us visitors was the love of God. Through meals and meetings we had with them, we shared our experiences of Christ with one another, and I eventually saw that the Body of Christ is not just the “church” which I attend, but it is a collection of all the believers on the face of the globe (1 Corinthians 12:13). Our uniting factor is not our race, or opinions, or which version of the Bible we read. What makes us the Body of Christ is that we all have Christ in us, and we are all pursuing the Lord Jesus--and nothing else--while sojourning here on this earth.