1 Corinthians 1:10-13 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? <NASB>
As I was driving home from church Sunday, I thought about how we want to separate everything…….separate church buildings because we have different beliefs and traditions….different ways of doing things….even in the group that claims to be Christians.
We segregate everything. We have different services for different age groups and different ways of doing things. We segregate by skin color, religion, “class”….rich, middle, poor, by religion, etc. Please hear my heart….I’m not bashing on anyone. My prayer and my hope is that we seek the Father on this and ask Him what HE wants. How does He see this?
I looked up the word “segregate” in my dictionary. It means: separate from others, set apart; isolate separate from the rest and collect in one place as in crystallization. <Thorndike Barnhart Comprehensive Desk Dictionary 1950>
That’s not the Father’s heart loved ones! He wants us to be one, to minister as one.
I want to share something I read in “The Heavenly Man” by Brother Yun. He is our Christian brother that happens to be Chinese. He says in his book that all the Christians were one and there was no division or bickering until well meaning Christians from the west began sending them books on how they do things, and their beliefs, etc. Up until that point, they only had the Bible and the Lord to guide them.
That says a lot you guys! Look at this prayer for us….prayed by Jesus.
John 17:17-21 “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.”
Let’s ask the Father how He sees things and what He wants to see happening in and among us, the Body of Christ. Let’s look at ourselves personally…..are we causing division or unity, do we have the same mind, how can we draw together as one? That little red gummy bear should be the Body, with the others being those who don’t know the Lord. It’s one, unity, Him.
