January 29, 2011 … Oneness in Christ

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 4 – 6 – 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called — 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

My Journal for Today: As we did in my last devotional entry [for 1/28/11], we focus on the “oneness” of Christ, … in the Church, and from the Gospel. And the two verses below, one from Peter, the other from Paul, clearly declare, as does today’s passage, that we give allegiance and serve One God in Christ Jesus.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 4:12 [Peter] “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
SCRIPTURE: Rom. 10: 12 [Paul] For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, …

Really, both explicitly and implicitly, CHRIST is the single unifying theme throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New. Denominational, demographic, or dogmatic differences within Christianity cannot detract from this unifying reality. There is only one CHRISTIAN faith.

Actually, unity (of the church) from diversity (of believers) is the theme of Ephesians 4; and it should be a strength of God’s Church. However, we live in a world which is fallen and fallible and which has led to fallacious and far reaching interpretations of God’s word and all too much diversity of feelings in Christ’s body. And any time we let feelings dominate a unified search for God’s truth, we fall prey to our enemy, Satan, who would pour his evil spiritual gas upon the flames of our distraction and disunity.

We must beware and not hold so tightly to our own provincial and protected “brand” of corporate Christianity so that we can come together to fulfill Christ’s prayer for His Body (see John 17), holding only to the reality that we have our unity in Christ Himself. [again see Eph. 4: 4 above]

My Prayer Today: We are one … I am one in You, Lord. Amen