I was never a cheerleader. I was never endowed with any of the gifts cheerleader's possess--except for one, the ability to cheer others on.

That's why every time I read the phrase "stir up" in the Bible, it gets my attention. I wrote about it once before on 8/29/07, Majoring on the Minors: Haggai and Stirring Up.

To "stir up" means "to awaken, excite, incite, raise up, arouse to action." It's the picture of a conductor standing before his orchestra awakening or warming up the musical instruments for playing a common song.

God accomplishes His work on earth through His people. Not His person, but His people. Collectively, He spreads around the gifts and talents as well as the assignments among His people everywhere to do the job of reaching the world. In the New Testament, it's called the body ministry:
"For we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them . . . ." (Rom. 12:4-6).

I have a feeling that some of you think you're gift is not as important as the gifts you see in others. The Bible talks about that, too:
"For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,' . . . and if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," .. . If the whole body were an eye,where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? . . . And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you''; nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you. . . .' "1 Cor. 12:5-31

At the church I attended in Ohio, a man I know named Jerry told me of his journey to faith. He had faced some devastating losses in his life, and he we a man without God. One Sunday Jerry made his way to our church. Another man named Rudi was helping to park cars in the lot. Rudi extended his hand to Jerry and deposited love into his heart. They chatted, then Jerry went on inside. The next Sunday Jerry returned. He told how Rudi's back was turned to him, so he slowed his steps so Rudi would notice him.

Eventually after one of the pastor's sermons, Jerry accepted Christ. But he never would have heard the sermon had not another member of the body been doing his job well. And whose to say whose part was more important, the pastor's who extended the invitation to Jerry or the car parker who kept him coming back?

Peter was getting ready to die when he wrote to the people about "stirring up" their work for Christ:
"Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, TO STIR YOU UP by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease" (2 Pet. 1:13-15).

As far as I know, these aren't my parting words as they were for Peter, but they do carry the same passion. If you have something you would like to do for God, get up and do it! If you feel a burden for something or someone, get involved! If you see a need, step in and fill that lack. Don't worry about how you'll be perceived or that anything "Jerry-like" will come from your efforts. Do your part, then leave the results to God.

That's how the body ministry works, and you're just as much a part as those up front. And without all our parts, the body cannot completely function.

So take this as your reminder. Take this as your stir up. Take this as your get-up! Get busy doing what God has called you to do.