It is so easy, in this day and age to become distracted and for disillusionment to settle into and amongst the lives of Christians. So easily different ideas and personal issues draw us apart. Differences of opinion and interpretations regarding matters in and outside of the church.
Phi 2:1 If then there is any comfort in Christ, any help given by love, any uniting of hearts in the Spirit, any loving mercies and pity, 2 Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind; 3 Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself; 4 Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,
After some incidents at the young and small church at Phillipi, Paul wrote amongst others, the above quoted passage.
The same can be written to just about any congregation and church today.
1. “Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind” People jockey for position, some want recognition for their efforts, some have their own agendas and some believe that they know exactly what will work and what not. How much more, will the church be able to accomplish, if we could all “be in harmony and of one mind?” So many people suffer, because of the discord amongst the Christians.
2. “Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself”. How often have I heard people boasting about “my church” or “our church is the best”. Is it not the Church of Christ? How can I believe that `my` church is better than the church down the road. No church can and should be considered better than the other. We are different members of the same body. The focus is the Gospel and not the building and it’s programs.
3. “Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others” If we focus on the needs of the community and the needs of the people, we will have no time for petty arguments.
4. “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,” We sing the most amazing songs in church: “teach me to love like You have loved” and “break my heart for what breaks Yours”. But we soon forget the requests we made in our songs. Soon the refrain changes to “break their hearts for what breaks mine” and “show them to love me, like I love myself”.
Let us lay down, those things that would interfere with the love of Christ being shown to a lost and dying world. Let us forget who we are and let us remember “whose we are”.
1Jo 4:11 My loved ones, if God had such love for us, it is right for us to have love for one another. 12 No man has ever seen God: if we have love for one another, God is in us and his love is made complete in us: 13 And his Spirit which he has given us is the witness that we are in him and he is in us. 14 And we have seen and give witness that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Everyone who says openly that Jesus is the Son of God, has God in him and is in God. 16 And we have seen and had faith in the love which God has for us. God is love, and everyone who has love is in God, and God is in him.
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