By Pamela Rose Williams
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long- suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. ~Ephesians 4:1-6
Church unity, this is the gist of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Today’s passage from Ephesians 4 reminds us that we are all in this together. Because of this we should be careful to treat each other kindly and “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. You know what that means? It means we ought not spend so much time arguing about “religion”. We are ONE body (the Church), we all share ONE Spirit, we have ONE calling, ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism and ONE God and Father. Wow, that’s 7 times ONE.
So how do we maintain unity? I believe the reason why most folks disagree on doctrines is because so many do not study for themselves. In order to know what the Bible says about doctrine, we must be DAILY in the Word. When we know what the Word says we also know what it does not say. Disagreements in the church happen when people get lazy and count on someone else to tell them what the Bible says. Meekness, longsuffering, love and peace are all fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:21-22). You can only produce this fruit when you are walking in the Spirit and you cannot walk in the Spirit when you are walking in the flesh. Paul says that those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh (Gal 5:24-25).
The way to walk in the Spirit is to renew your mind by the Word (Rom 12:1-2). The more of the Word you get into your heart, the less of the world you will have room for. What did you read today? Is it something that will help a fellow believer walk in the Spirit?
Things to Think About and Do
- Can you find two more Bible verses (passages) that confirm that believers are to live in unity? Jot them down
- What are 3 three other words that mean the same as “longsuffering”?
- When you were Daily in the Word today, what did you learn?
