Together

This week my Bible study started back up at school. I host a Bible study during lunch at my school, and we just read and talk about the Bible. This year is already starting out better than previous years, as I was well prepared to lead the group in a meaningful message and a whole bunch of new people showed up. The point of this post is to talk about what we talked about on Wednesday during the study.

The text I focused on was 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, that is a considerable chunk of scripture, there are a lot of ideas flowing through there. One could spend weeks just looking at them all in depth. From our short time together, I could tell that these verses really drove the show: (verses 18-20)

"But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body."

I encourage you to look at the whole section of Scripture, it really has a power in it, a lot of action can be initiated off of those words. But the overlaying theme of the passage is the unity of the body of Christ, which is something that I think is lacking in His body today. Just look at how many denominations we have today: Lutheran, Methodist, Unitarian, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Non-denominational, Bible, Charismatic, Baptist, the list just goes on and on. Is that not dividing up the body of Christ? I can assure you it is, especially when the denominations start to argue with each other. 

That is exactly what we looked at, the division of the Christians is sickening. We need to unite! What can we do apart from Christ? Are we to divide even Christ's attributes between us? NO! We need to take Jesus at His word, and through His word we need to become the church (bride) of Christ that at one time healed thousands, that could gain 5,000 members in one day! 

What is going to unite us then? The answer is quite simple: love. Love each other. Love our neighbors as ourselves. Does that sound familiar Christians? Lets really think about what loving others means. If you take it in the context of these verses, love others the way you love your own body. Love the body of Christ the same way you love yourself. If you were cold, would you not get a jacket to be warm? If you were thirsty, would you not get something to drink? I encourage you to do the same for those in and out of the body of Christ, so that they (unbelievers) may be brought near. 

So as this week rolls on, study your Bible for an hour or more (This is my serious challenge for you). Let His word work in your heart. Then, on Sunday, go to church with a grateful attitude, they are your family by the way!