1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.
verse 1 is one of my life verses... I felt like God spoke it directly to me... telling me that my walk has to match my talk.. I think that is one of the foundations of the change that came in my life... a life worthy of the calling... it is hard to have people look at you all the time and be able to say that you live like a christian... I don't imagine I am there.. just walking toward it.. striving daily... keep ourselves united.. that is a big order... where is unity found? we tend to think there is only unity if there is agreement but that is not the way God planned it... He knew we wouldn't always agree... which is why He created some to lead and some to follow.. not too many are willing to follow... we all tend to want to lead.. so that no one else tells us what to do.. sometimes following is just having the same heart... you will follow someone who's heart you believe is right... it is easier anyways... submission is a struggle no matter what your mind tells you...
7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.”
how wonderful that God chose to give each of us gifts.. yet there are so many of us walking around feeling useless and without gifting... but the bible says we have been given gifts... and sometimes the most important gifts are to be helps to someone who has an "out loud" gifting... the silent gift is no less important than the loud one...
9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
we fight against the church... we expect people of the church to be perfect... because they act like they are.. we expect pastors to be faultless.. because we expect them to be the shining example of Christ... what about us as an individual... can you find yourself faultless? not likely... if you do, you are full of pride and that is a sin in itself.... so if we are not wtihout sin.. how do we cast stones at someone else? we expect people to be more than we are willing to be... we fight leadership.. people feel if they have been there 100 years or they donate alot of money that they should have a say so... yet the bible says even as you have done unto the least of these you have done so unto me (meaning Christ) so how would you feel you are greater than what Christ says He is? he states one day we will be full and mature and have unity.. what a day that will be...
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
I don't get tossed and blown very often... this doesn't mean I never get deceived.. eve was deceived.. the bible says that one of the weaknesses of a woman is that she is deceived... things can be so clear one minute and confused the next.... I pray to be more and more like Christ... I pray to be a piece of this body that fits together perfectly... I pray the body to be healthy and growing in love...
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