Unity in the Body

This weekend is summer madness weekend, and I’m away at the King’s Hall with thousands of other Christians at Northern Ireland’s biggest Christian youth festival. Here’s a devotion I wrote at it last year, and hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll be able to share some stuff I’ve written at this year’s Summer madness
Ephesians 1:23 “And the church is his body, it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.”

You don’t need to know much biology to know that a body will only function properly if all its various organs, limbs and digits are attached together and have a good blood supply.

For the church to function properly we need much more unity across class, across countries, across race and across all the petty small things that divide us. We need to come together and acknowledge that we all serve the one God, and look to see how together we might better serve Him. It is said that many hands make light work – we have the huge task of taking the gospel to every tribe, every tongue, every nation. But we don’t have time to do it alone. We need to unite with our fellow brothers and sisters, regardless of their style of worship, regardless of which Bible translation they use, regardless of whether they meet in a church or in a hall. We need to realize that together, we are stronger. Together, we will get more done. Together, more souls will be saved.

One of the big factors pushing people away from accepting Christ is the division, disunity and dispute in the church. They don’t see it as any better than secular institutions. In John 17 Jesus prayed that the Church would be united. It is time to try and be an answer to that prayer.

We also need a good blood supply. Our bodies need fresh blood constantly to provide the oxygen and other various nutrients needed to live. Likewise in our churches we need a good supply of God. We need to be reading His word every day to build us up, to give us freshness and passion. We need to be constantly praying, constantly being connected to the source of our hope and strength. If you remove the power source from a freezer pretty soon the contents will go bad. Likewise if we don’t keep connected to God both in our personal lives and as a church, things will start to go bad spiritually. We will start to compromise. We will begin giving in to temptation. Instead of growth and life there will be only dreary dull death and decay. Reconnecting the freezer to the electricity won’t fix the contents, but the good news for us is we are not freezers! If we are feeling spiritually dry or dead if we seek God, if we look to reconnect with Him, He will restore us. Fresh blood will again flow through our spiritual veins. We will again be filled by Christ, and have fresh growth in our life.

As the church we are called to be the body of Christ. So let’s make sure all the parts of the body are connected together, and let’s ensure there is a good fresh supply of blood in the body. And maybe then great things will happen.