May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. [Romans 15.5]
This verse is really nice. It has a certain warm and fuzzy feel about it.
But, as I read it today, something profound jumped off the page into my spirit.
I am currently praying with a group of people for the merging of two congregations into one. This is all good and certainly "unity" is the recurring topic for going forward. So, naturally, the words "complete harmony with each other" in the verse above particularly caught my eye today. What really struck me today however were the words following...
"As is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus" slapped me in the face today.
If "complete harmony" is "fitting for followers of Christ Jesus" then what is fitting for those following something other than Christ Jesus?? I think the logical answer is "NOT complete harmony."
My point? If believers follow anything or anyone other than Jesus, there is little hope of harmony and unity.
In a dedicated prayer time yesterday I wrote the following:
- We need to be like Jesus! Not like any other church - not like any other ministry.
- We need to be like Jesus. We don't need to be "contemporary." We don't need to be "relevant" or "current."
- We need to be like Jesus. We don't need our own "identity." We don't need to be unique. We don't need to stand out.
- We need to be like Jesus.
- We need to look like Jesus.
- We need to act like Jesus.
- We need to heal like Jesus.
- We need to feed like Jesus.
- We need to forgive like Jesus.
- We need to be like JESUS!
- When others see us, they need to see Jesus and only Jesus.
In other words, Jesus is our only hope of unity - complete harmony is fitting for followers of Jesus.
Father, let the message, life and work for Jesus be my message, life and work today and forever!
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