Finding our way through the wilderness

Ephesians 4:3-6

New International Version (NIV)

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.

Day Twenty-One

Lose your religion

   There is so much division with the Churches today. There are so many denominations of what is suppose to the one body of Christ. We read and study from the same book, the bible, but we somehow have different ideologies, different traditions, and sometimes different beliefs. Now don’t get me wrong I feel that there is nothing wrong with having values and traditions that have been passed down to us from our forefathers. These traditions are bound to be different because we as a people are different. However, it is wrong when we put our traditions in front of God’s will and it is also wrong when they cause us to look down or turn our backs on our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This is where our religion can get in the way of our spirituality. That is when we need to lose our religion and find the Holy Spirit.

   Religion is defined as people’s beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of a deity.  In other words religion is what or who a group of people worships and call their God. So in our world we have many different religions like Judaism, Islamic, Buddhism, Christianity, and the list can go on and on. What separates all of these religions are their beliefs.

   So when I say lose your religion, am I talking about us denouncing Christianity? The answer is No. What I am saying is that we should lose the idea of what religion stands for and that is division.

   We as Christians believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and He was resurrected by God with all power in His hands. We believed that the only way to get to glory (heaven) is by accepting Him as Lord and Savior and asking repentance for our sins. This should be the teaching of any Christian church no matter what the denominations. If we believed these things to be true, then why do we have divisions or denominations within the church? Again this stems from the different backgrounds of each of us and it is fine as long as we realize that no of us are better than the next. We all, no matter our traditions, were saved by grace and Jesus did not die just for the Catholic, or the Baptist, or the Methodists, or any other denomination. Jesus died for all of us, even the nonbelievers, because we all need to be saved.

   So using the text from above we need to learn how to become united as one True body of Christ, for the enemy is busy and he never rests. In the text the writer says “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Here the Word is telling us make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. He also says that there should be one body and one Spirit. Here he talking about the church how we should be one body just as there is one Spirit. We serve one Lord so we should be one Body.

   Jesus told Peter on this rock I shall build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18) Notice that Jesus said church singular not churches plural.  So we are too be as one, though we worship him in different building and in different ways, we are one.

   In Corinthians 1:10 Paul says, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,^[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. Now he was talking to the church leaders in Corinthian church, but the same message can be applied to us today.  We are to be perfectly united in mind and thought both towards the will of God. When align our mind and thoughts with His will we will achieve perfect harmony as followers of Christ.

    As Christians today we already face so many challenges, let’s not let division among each other be one of them. We have all heard the term United we stand, divide we fall. We need to stand united in Christ so that we can do what He commissioned us to do. Tell a lost world the Good News, that Jesus Christ is alive!  

   Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless