Sunday, July 8, 2018

United In Christ

Romans 15: 5-6

Now may the God Who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus prayed for us in His "High Priestly Prayer" in John 17, that we would "be one, even as We are" (v. 11). That we would be united together as the Father and the Son are. 

Because when we get together with the same mind, in one accord, and all speak with one voice, then, "nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible to them" (Genesis 11:6). 

Jesus prayed for you and me. He prayed that we would have the same oneness of mind and purpose that He has with His Father, so that, in His power and strength we would do the work of preparing for His Kingdom: to go out and find and gather all the lost sheep into the one fold Jesus talked about in John 10:16 when He was presenting Himself as the Good Shepherd. 

Whenever people get together with one mind and one purpose, we have made great leaps in science and medicine and philosophy and in business, and in every endeavor to which we've applied our intelligence and imagination. 

How wonderful it will be when His Church decides to get together with one mind, one accord, and the same purpose. This is what Jesus prayed for concerning us. 

Imagine the result when we all decide to put aside all of our denominational differences to focus on the central Truth that Jesus wants us to agree on. Then we will be able to go forward as His soldiers in His army, His missionaries, to begin by sharing with our neighbors wherever we happen to be. Then we will go out into our communities, our Nations, and the whole World, sowing the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of every living person.

The fields are already ripe and ready for harvest. Those who have gone before us have prepared the ground, planted the seed, and watered the garden. God is giving the growth, and we are to go and reap the bounty of souls He is growing. And everyone who has had any part in God's fields, His flocks, His building, will be rewarded for doing what Jesus is accomplishing through us.

Just imagine! God is working today in the World all around us. Open your eyes to see what He is doing, and roll up your sleeves to take part in the wonderful works of God. And all the honor, all the credit, all the glory will go to the One Who first imagined it all before the beginning. 

And what He has planned will be finished and complete. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!