Here Paul is comparing the human body with the body of Christ…the Church. Just as the many parts of the human body work together in complete harmony…each with its own unique purpose, the body of Christ – the Church and its many parts need to come together in like-mindedness also. And just like the human body, one part cannot work in isolation from the rest. That would be like one Sunday morning your heart getting up and deciding not to be part of your body that day! You may think that your presence at Church doesn’t matter…but it does…the whole body suffers when one part is absent.
Tag: christianity
Malachi 1:7-8 ” You place defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? says the Lord Almighty.”
Leftovers. For many, they’re not very appetizing. So why do we repeatedly offer them to the Lord ? Those remaining bits and pieces of our time and money in a rather half-hearted attempt at devotion. God doesn’t want our leftovers. He wants our utmost. He doesn’t want what’s left…He wants our very best.
In Christ Jesus…You are complete in Jesus Christ.
Many of us walk around with gaping holes in our heart…holes caused from personal loss, trauma, or at the hands of someone else. We frantically search for things to fill these holes, but find nothing that lasts or gives us peace of mind. Jesus Christ is the only person or thing that can make your heart whole again. For in Him, you are made perfectly complete…lacking nothing… able to fully realize who you are in Christ.
In Christ Jesus…You are redeemed and forgiven.
Forgiveness. For some that’s a hard word to accept. They feel as if they need to “do” something first in order to gain God’s pardon. But to be forgiven by the Lord has nothing to do with us…for it is solely based on God’s unmerited love and mercy… His redemptive power working to heal and make us whole again.
Isaiah 25:1 ” O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.”
Elsewhere in Isaiah it says, “The Lord Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.’ ” Lord, I give You thanks and trust that everything, both big and small, that happens in my life has been prepared long ago. Each wonderful, miraculous, and extraordinary thing that has and will happen to me You have planned out far before I was even born. And I know you have much more for me to be doing, and I look with eager anticipation to the future and Your plans for me. And everyone said, Amen.
Jeremiah 35:6 ” But they replied, ‘We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jonadab son of Recab gave us this command: Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.’ “
The Lord had directed Jeremiah to invite the Recabite family in and serve them wine. But when he did, they responded with this covenant they had kept for generations. None of them had ever drank wine. The Lord then used this example to show how the Recabites had continued to uphold their forefather’s commandment…yet the people of Judah and Jerusalem couldn’t seem to keep God’s commandments.
I Corinthians 1:10 ” I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. “
There was Church division in Corinth…some followed Apollos, some Peter, and some Paul. All three were Godly men…all three were preaching the Gospel. So where could there be the disagreement? Apollos was an Alexandrian Jew that was converted to Christianity and tutored by Aquila and Priscilla in areas of the faith he was ignorant of. While Peter was one of the original twelve Disciples that had witnessed firsthand the work of Jesus. Finally there was Paul, a Jew and persecutor of the Christians until that fateful day on the road to Damascus when the Lord confronted him. All three were passionate about the Lord and the desire to evangelize. But they all came from different backgrounds and different life experiences, and their preaching styles showed it. Thus Paul exhorted the Believers to be joined together in Christ and the Gospel, not divided apart by man and subtle nuances.
Exodus 4: 11-12 ” The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’ “
Moses had many excuses of why he wasn’t the person to go to the Pharaoh and demand release of the Hebrew children. But the Lord countered with an airtight defense of why Moses was just the right man for the job. We want to argue with God, but speaking from very personal experience…you’ll never win. We can object all we want, but God desires obedience exclusively. For if He calls you to something, He can and will give you whatever skill is needed to accomplish that task. With God, arguing will get you nowhere…obedience on the other hand, will move His Kingdom forward.
Psalm 52: 8 ” But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever. “
I am planted like a thriving tree in Your presence Lord…grafted securely to the root of Jesse…my dependence is on You and You alone. I praise You Lord for Your never-ending mercy and kindness. I thank You for Your everlasting and eternal love. Amen.
James 2:17 ” In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. “
Prayer is good…action is good, but the Lord wants us to do both together in wisdom. In Nehemiah 4: 8-9 it says, “They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to met this threat.” Prayer will give you God’s vision. It will give you courage and resolve to move out in discernment and a clearer understanding of the problem you face. Prayer is good…action is good, but they need to go hand in hand to be the most effective.
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