The Church as One
by: Stephen Weber"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one...." (John 17:22 NASB)
If we are to truly 'go deeper' for God and know Him more, then we will strive to follow His will. Jesus' will for the church was that we would be one. That is, united. What is a large obstacle faced today in this area? Denominations.
We must not, however, see organized denominations as the whole problem. I know I am tempted to think sometimes that if churches would just join together and forget about their denominations that things would just be much better, that some how it is the churches' fault.
It's not about the churches but the Church.
We as believers form both the churches and the Church - the body of Christ. If we want to see change, we should not look for it to come from above, but from us.
We are to be the salt and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14). We often hear about how we must reach out to non-Christians. Yet, it must start with us: reaching out to other Christians first, and then non-believers. How can we confront them about the specks in their eyes, when we are beating our brothers and sisters with the logs in our own?
It is not for the churches as organizations to change, it is for us, as people, to change. We must challenge ourselves to live daily as brothers and sisters united. If I believe Jesus could come back tomorrow, and you believe that there is much that must first happen, what does that matter? Are we not saved by the same Christ? Is there not "one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:4-6)?
posted by Voice Editorial Staff @ 3:45 PM
