One

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit —just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:3-6

Generally speaking, I am not a history buff - so taking graduate level history classes are not necessarily my idea of fun. Because of where my heart lies church history is a bit more interesting to me. History of course has a purpose; there is much we can learn from the things that have happened long ago. We can learn how to take advantage of the good that has been done and hopefully we can learn to avoid the mistakes.

One of the things that have really struck me on my journey through church history is that Christians do not seem to be any better at getting along than anyone else. I expect that makes the heart of God ache.

The scriptures have much to say about unity of the body, this week’s passage implores us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. In other places Scripture says though we are many we are one body. We are supposed to be brothers and sisters - the world is supposed to know we are Christians because we love one another.

Now don’t get me wrong I am not trying to say that we have to agree all the time or that we should not hold one another accountable when we stray from what is right. I am also not saying that how we “do” church needs to be the same as the fellowship meeting across town. What I am saying is that we need to find unity in the things that really matter - that Jesus is God and that He died on a cross and rose from the grave to save us and restore us to a right relationship with God, being just one example of the immovable foundation of His church. When necessary we need to agree to disagree on the things that don’t, like the style of music used for our worship services, as an example.

Have you ever heard a sermon that talks about breaking generational curses? In this time on this planet we who call ourselves by the name of Christ, need to work to break what perhaps we can call the generational curse of Christianity. We are to reflect the love of Christ to a dying world by loving one another.

One God, one body, one Spirit - let’s learn from history to love one another. I think that will make our lives glorify God and his heart will sing over us.

A Prayer
Father - Thank you that you call us daughters and sons. Forgive us for the times when we do not act like brothers and sister who love each other and You. Jesus paid a great price to restore the family, help us to bring unity to the fellowship of believers, so that the light of Your love will outshine the darkness of this world. In the name of Jesus our Redeemer, Amen.