One Body

I Peter 3:8

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 

This last Sunday night I attended service with some of my best friends out in Costa Mesa at the church they have been attending. We were finishing up Philippians 1 and when we hit verse 27, he raised the question, “family, do we spend more time fighting face to face, toe to toe about the Bible and our faith or do we stand side by side for the gospel?” In all honesty, the church we see today has become so divided, all the hundreds of denominations, all of the fights about who is right, I have to wonder, how badly does it hurt God to see His people more worried about winning a non-salvational theological debate about predestination or free will with a brother or sister in Christ instead of putting all of that effort into ministering and encouraging each other and to anyone and everyone else and spreading the gospel like we are told by Christ in the Great Commission (In Matthew 28)? (Theological discussions are not wrong, it is good to discuss with one another what God has shown us and our views and to discuss them in hopes that we may have a clearer understanding of who God is and His relationship with us, but when it becomes almost a repulsion to people who have differing viewpoints than your own is when it is an issue, that is not the love that God demonstrates to us) In I Corinthians Paul speaks about being ONE BODY, can we honestly say that this is a descriptor of the Church? We need to be united in mind, heart, purpose, and love. We have one mission, to glorify God through having an intimate and real relationship with Him and, consequently, share that relationship with others. We tear each other down so often rather than build each other up. I share this passage not to bash on Christians, but instead to encourage change, beginning in our own hearts. We pray for revival, but do  nothing to bring our own lives to a point of revival. If we cannot be united on the one thing that has saved us from an eternity of punishment for our heinous actions, how can we ever expect someone to want to join the family? Regardless of if we are Calvinists, Arminians, Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, or whatever, we have something in common, the greatest thing in common, that we who were dead in our sins, were loved by God, and He gave of Himself a sacrifice so that we could be redeemed and could experience a real and intimate relationship with Him without sin’s bondage over us anymore and that, through His sacrifice, we now have a relationship with that very God. Though we will have disagreements, we will have conflicts in the Church, we will have issues, it is not to take away from the fact that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, that are living a life in pursuance of Him every single day. We have the same goal, will we live as One Body? We serve the same God, will we unite as one bride? 

Family, may we begin to love one another, friend or enemy alike, in a way that God loves us, without bounds. May we unite as one body, one Church, and go through this life together, pushing one another to grow with the Lord.

May the world see that the Church is one body, serving the One True King

Blessings