Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Unity

Time for another soccer analogy! My team is doing very well this year. Part of it is due to some of the talent that I have, some due to those that have been playing for me for a few years are steadily improving, and thirdly, we are playing more like a team. Everyone has a job to perform. They have a particular assignment on the field. When everyone does their job, we are hard to beat. It is when we have a break down, that bad things happen. Players get to close to each other, their tempers flare, and we give up goals. Usually a good "talking to" at half time is needed to stress unity on the field to achieve our goal, to win. I believe that this is true for Christianity as well.

1 Corinthians 12:11-13
"But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit."

Each Christian has their own gift from God. Mine may be different from yours, or maybe not. We are different people, but we need to keep in mind that we must work together in unity to glorify God. A good Christian co-worker of mine referenced the tower of Babel to me as we were discussing this topic. All of the people that were constructing the tower were one. They were unified, and thus, there was hardly anything they could not do. Now, their motivation was wrong, and thus their judgement was to be split apart, but there is a lesson to learn there. If we could come together about Christ, in the same manner that those people did about their motives, we could have an extremely positive impact in our communities, schools, workplaces, and even the world.

So how do we do this? It seems that many different denominations have their own ideas as to how things should be. And they spend a great deal of time arguing or picking fights about the things that each group does. For instance, at my church, the ladies wear a head covering during service. We do this per the instructions given in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. And we receive a lot of criticism for it. The point that I am trying to make is what are we allowing to be our guide for Christian living, and are we living by that guide?

2 Timothy 3:16
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;"

We need to let the scriptures be our guide, and we need to follow that guide. Think about a group of men on an expedition. Now, imagine them going to explore a region without someone to guide them. What happens? They become lost. They begin to fight among themselves over what to do and which way to go. The expedition then falls apart and fails. They all tried to lean on their own understanding and interpretation. Many times we do this. We try to understand the ways of God, and insert our own understanding to the point that it is equal with Him, whether the scriptures support it or not. And this is why we fail. This is why we have problems with unity.

James 1:22
"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves."

Not only do we need to let the scriptures be our guide, but we must follow them. We always have trouble when we get away from them. It is not always easy. And there will be struggles. And we will fail from time to time. But, if we honestly do our best to follow what the bible says, easy or not, God's grace will carry us through the mistakes.

In closing, we need to be unified in Christ. We need to let the scriptures be our guide, and we must follow them. Because anything short will cause us to fail at our mission, of sharing the gospel of Christ to a lost and dying world.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless you all this week!


1 comment:

  1. Amen!

    Wonderful encouragement and exhortation to be unified in the Body of Christ!

    God bless you, Derrick!

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