Verse: Ephesians 4:3-6
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Devotion
Man, it can be hard to be right so often, you know what I mean? It’s a heavy burden I bear, that I am always right about everything. But, you know, I bear it with humility. Someone has too. (In case you can’t tell, I’m being very sarcastic!)
The thing about being right, is that when it comes down to it, most of us think we are right, most of the time. And yet, if you look on social media, or at our culture, or just in your own family, something doesn’t add up does it? How can we all be so right so often, and disagree so much? And our assumption, if we are honest, is that they are wrong (whoever the “they” may be at any given time) and we are not. We assume our rightness. And assuming we are right all the time has a negative effect on our character doesn’t it? It leads to pride and a lack of compassion. It’s hard to be right!
We do this with Christians too! And we aren’t gracious about it usually. We talk about the “other side” and demonize them. We think less of them in our hearts, and we talk about how wrong they are with others who agree with us.
I heard a preacher once say that Christians aren’t called to be right, they are called to be righteous. We are called to make every effort to keep unity with other believers. Are you making every effort? Am I? Paul reminds us that while we may disagree on politics, issues, and even Bible verses—we are ONE. Paul, I think, is challenging us.
Is our political affiliation more important to us that the Spirit we are called to? Is our ideology more important than the baptism we’ve been baptized into? Is our pet biblical interpretation more important than our membership together in the one body of Christ?
We are one, before we are many. We need to remember this, and fight for this reality, rather than fighting to be right. Republican Christians, you are one with Democratic Christians. Progressive Christians you are one with Conservative Christians. Charismatic Christians you are one with Baptist Christians. And so on.
The question for each of us today is this: is being right more important to us than being one with our brothers and sisters in the Lord? Take some time today to reflect on that question, and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart where you may be….wait for it….wrong about how you are treating other believers.
Prayer
See above.
Author: Christian Dunn
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