United Together in Christ!

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Parents, do you remember an instance when you were driving to go on holiday and after the customary 25 ‘are-we-there-yet’s?’ the kid’s impatience wells up into a minor fracas, which then wells up into World War III. Their complaining then turns into a full scale argument, ‘he’s got my cheesy wotsits,’ ‘she’s got my chewing gum and won’t give it back!’ and then the argument turns into an ongoing 50 mile 100 mile quarrel.

Certainly l relate to that as a child and as a dad – but imagine how our heavenly father reacts when he sees his children arguing and squabbling, or trying to get one up on each other?

Loving relationships are important for us as Christians.  Jesus prayed that we would

“be one” so that the world would believe He came from the Father (John 17:20-21), and to disciples who occasionally had differences, He commanded that they love one another (13:34-35; Matthew 20:20-28).

Christianity encourages us to, ‘Concentrate on the things which make for harmony, and on the growth of our fellowship together’ (Romans 14:19). When you think about it, as Christians we share one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one salvation and one future. God’s not looking for cookie cutter uniformity from each of us but a recognition of what unites us more than what divides us as Christians.  We need to see our priority as being focused on Jesus and our love for him and not what are called the ‘stupid arguments’ that can divide us, (2 Timothy 2:23).  Whenever we focus on the messenger and not the message, our own personal preferences rather than the person of Jesus Christ disunity will divide, however if we focus on loving one another, encouraging one another and building one another, unity and love flow.

In the 2nd Century a Christian leader called Aristides, wrote a letter to the Roman emperor Hadrian about the Christians of his time, ‘They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something, they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home, and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit, in God.’  The early church made  an impact on its divided world and we can too … as we love one another!

Have a great week.