Let’s face it…we live in a divided world. The devil does what he can to continue that but we have a HUGE countermeasure to that division. We have Jesus. When we choose to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and recognize and acknowledge that He is the Son of our Living God, that He died for our sins and rose again, then we can become one body and one voice for Him.
The devil hates that and so when we proclaim that we are Christians, he tries to further divide us by having us look at one another and say that this particular group of Christians isn’t good enough or look at what they do that is different than how we do things…and the list goes on. You see, the greatest threat to your faith as a Christian is the devil because he likes to whisper in your ear about things that are counterproductive to the Gospel and to the Bible.
We can’t listen to the devil and listen to Jesus. Jesus cancels out the devil. Our spiritual growth is written as a metaphor and is found in John 15:1-2 where Jesus describes God as a gardener who cuts away dead branches and prunes the fruitful ones so that they can grow even more. The purpose of this is for us to increase our yield in Him. We are also called to be part of the Body of Christ, where in 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul states that Jesus is the head of the body and we are called to be members within that body. We are called to be His eyes and ears, His hands, His feet, His mouth and organs (like our heart) but more importantly we must give our soul to Him as well. Even though these things like our heart and soul are hidden, they are just as vital to His ministry.
When we go towards God and Jesus, it allows us to begin to recognize that He also gives us the Holy Spirit which allows us to begin to discern what is from Him and what is not. When we walk in His light, then we also begin to see how we ALL belong to Him and so we are changed. We can then begin to speak with one voice because we belong to the ONE BODY of Christ. (Related posts: With a Thankful Heart and The Heart of the Giver)
What did I learn from this? God made each of us unique but we are still ALL of God’s children. No matter the country of origin or the color of our skin, we are all His. So, because of what I know from our Savior, I am more compelled to demonstrate God’s love for all because that is what He wants us to do. God wants us to guide others to Him, love and comfort His people, show respect and dignity even when we might not agree. None of that is easy, so we have to ask our God to help us so that we can help others back towards Him.
So, what can you gain from this? I cannot answer that question for you but I can ask you this… is pride standing in your way? Too many times we let pride come because we don’t want to admit that maybe we judged too quickly or too easily. This is the part when we need to humble ourselves before God, and ask for His forgiveness for our own sins before we even try to go out and be the one body and one voice of our God. We all suffer from it. You are not alone in that, just do your best not to forget that either so you can walk in His light and share it with others.
A Joyful Mission 