Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Casting Crowns singing … If We are the Body … powerfully singing of how the Body of Christ must come together out of our diversity to be unified in/for Christ.
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Highlight Passage : … Genesis 13:8-9 [ESV] ... 8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
… Abram, with family love, lets Lot choose which way they would go their separate ways.
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Highlight Passage [context] : … Genesis 13:1-9 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Abram and Lot go their separate ways, but they do so amicably, following the One True God.
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 133:1 [ESV] ... 1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
… King David sings of the joy we see when brothers can come together in unity.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 5:14-16 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus wants His Body, the Church, to shine His light out into a darkened world; … and we do that best when we come TOGETHER, joining our individual lights, to shine more brightly into the world.
Reference Passage : … Romans 14:1-10 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to come together, not judging one another by their diversity but being unified in Christ.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 3:27-28 [ESV] ... 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
… From the diversity of our humanity, in Christ, we become unified as one body.
Reference Passage : … 1Peter 3:8 [ESV] ... 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
… Peter urges fellow Christians to have unity in the brotherly love of Christ.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Leslie Koh, AT THIS LINK writes of how difficult - in the workplace - it is to promote unity and teamwork when the team members are so different. And then the author uses the story of Abraham and Lot going their separate ways to illustrate we can bring unity out of diversity when we go our separate ways but follow One Lord.
It seems like there is no time - at least in my lifetime - when we Christians, who are so diverse in ethnicity and culture, need to come together, as Casting Crowns sing about in the linked song, and unify, using our diversity (see photo) to shine the love-light of Christ into this divided world.
What can each of us do - maybe even this week - to work TOGETHER - as Christ’s body, and to let our diversity become unified to shine the light of Christ in this very diverse and ever darkening world?
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for giving me Your light to join with other fellow Christians to shine more brightly TOGETHER into this ever darkening world.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, … TOGETHER … to shine the light of Christ into the world as the Body of Christ. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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