Skip to main content

One

I’ve recently come to realized that I’ve lived my life predominantly as a Wesleyan, more so than as a Christian.  I was raised the daughter of a Wesleyan minister, and the grand-daughter of a Wesleyan minister and two Wesleyan missionaries.  I spent every Sunday in a Wesleyan church.  I spent my summers at a Wesleyan camp.  I attended a Wesleyan University.  And I’m now attending a Methodist seminary.  While I believe it’s important to align yourself with a denomination for the doctrinal structure and discipleship, as well as for the close-knit community, I’ve found that I’ve both alienated and prejudiced myself in regards to other Christian denominations.  Rather than seeing myself as a believer among various and equally Christian denominations, I’ve elevated my denomination (which I do hold in high regards for its emphasis on social justice and personal holiness) above all others.  I’ve allowed myself to see only the weaknesses in others denominations of choice and ignored the weaknesses in my own.  Over the last few years, and I guess more specifically the last few weeks, God has been revealing to me His heart.  His heart is in unity.  After all, the world should know we are Christ’s followers by how we love.  But instead, I think the world sees us as a house divided, which as Jesus and Abraham Lincoln have stated, cannot stand. 

One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Jesus’ prayer in the Garden, right before He is arrested and crucified.  I’ve heard many times people say that there is nothing in Scripture specifically for them, because it’s all contextual and for a specific people or person at a specific time.  Though I would disagree because Scripture was written for a larger audience and simply expressed through specific individuals and circumstances, I can understand the struggle to see a personal message in the midst of this.  However, this prayer is prayed specifically for every believer who ever has and ever will come into fellowship with Christ and His Church.

John 17: 20-22 records Jesus’ prayer:
“My prayer is not for them [the disciples] alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me, and I am in You.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent Me.  I have given them the glory that you gave Me, that they may be one as We are one—I in them and You in Me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.  Then the world will know that you sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. “

Christ’s prayer as He was facing a terrifying and painful death was for everyone who would come to know Him as Savior and Lord; that they would be united in their love of Christ and those who are lost.  Correct theology and doctrine has its place, but right living and pursuit of the heart of Christ is what Jesus prayed for for His believers.  If unity is God’s prayer for us, unity should also be OUR prayer for the Church universal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflections for Election Day

It's an unfortunate reality that not only does politics divide our country, it divides Christ's church. In this blog, I'm not going to try to persuade which candidate to vote for, but rather I am going to attempt to urge any and all professing believers to vote responsibly. If you are voting (and I hope that you are) I encourage you to prayerfully consider your decision. I encourage you to use divine discernment in which candidate you mark your ballot for. Please, do not simply vote for the candidate that most benefits what your itching ears want to hear, but rather prayerfully invest in the candidate that will uphold God's standards in his leadership of this nation. Like Israel, the Christian community in America has fallen into the trap of relying on political structures to provide for our needs and even our desires. In 1 Samuel 8, we find that Israel has grown tired of the Judges and Priests that God has given to advise them and demands that they have a king. Sam...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christian Atheists

I recently came across a book entitled, “The Christian Atheist: Believing in God, but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist”. While I didn’t read the book, the title intrigued me and got me thinking: how many of those who call themselves “Christians” live this way? We continue to live like the small child who believes he can’t be seen simply because he is covering his eyes and can’t see his parents. We can’t see God, so it won’t matter if I indulge in a secret sin here or there, as long as no one knows, or no one sees. We proclaim a faith in Christ, but live as those His sacrifice means nothing. In my Method & Praxis class one Monday night, we were discussing Kant’s impact on theology and the modern church. Kant taught a philosophical outlook on the world that consequently reduced religion (of the Christian persuasion) to moral living and God to a Santa Claus type figure. I think this is the brand of Christianity a large number of believers have adopted. We opt for the package deal n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don't Get Comfortable

It’s a running joke among my co-workers that I never stay in town on weekends I’m not working. I guess it’s not so much a joke as it is reality. The truth is: I love to travel and get restless staying in one place very long. I was pondering this on a recent trip back from visiting my parents in Mississippi for Thanksgiving. Since leaving New York to attend college in Indiana, I’ve struggled with settling anywhere and really making a place “home”. This especially became difficult most recently when I moved from Lexington, Kentucky, where I had really established a great church family—to move to Macon, Georgia responding to the call God has placed on my life. I remember having some very emotional moments with Jesus in the midst of the move and shortly after. It seems like every time I get comfortable somewhere God shakes things up and moves me somewhere new. God revealed something to me on my drive back from Mississippi about this; Christians are not supposed to get comfortable....
Post a Comment
Read more