There’s an old dirt road back home called Bragg Road. It has been made popular because it’s supposedly haunted by a headless man. It’s an 8 mile long road that has no turns on it, but is straight as an arrow. When driving down it at night many have claimed to see an eery floating light in the distance moving down the road. The story is that back in the 1800’s there was a train conductor who sped his train way too fast down the 8 mile stretch in order to stay on schedule with deliveries. One particular trip through there was too fast, and he derailed the train and was decapitated. The legend is that he walks up and down Bragg Road with his lantern looking for his head to this day. While this old legend of a headless man walking down the road looking for his head may haunt children, and teens who spend their weekends driving down the ghost road, adults tend to know better. It would be a far stretch for any kind of head to be detached from a body and still be lurking around. Everyone knows that you can’t have a head without a body.
While we know that about some ghost story, we tend to forget that when it comes to our Christianity. The Bible often refers to the church as Jesus’ body with Jesus being the head (1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18,24). While we understand that illustration in principle, I think we tend to forget it in practice. What I see happening in the world around us, and in churches across this country is a trend of people wanting to be connected to Christ (the head) without being a part of the church (the body). People will say things like, “I have my own personal relationship with Jesus, and I don’t need the church” (or something to that effect). What this mentality fails to recognize is that you cannot have the head without being a part of the body. Jesus is forever connected to His body (the church). Therefore, if you want to be connected to Jesus, you must be connected to the church!
We have to rid of the idea that we can be connected to Christ without being connected to His body. My challenge to you is to invest deeply in the church. After all it is the ultimate display of God’s wisdom (Ephesians 3:10). Remember that you cannot have the head (Jesus) without being a part of the body (the church).
— Kolton Ballance