Author: mary

The body of Christ is made up of believers. Each believer has a part and a way to serve in the kingdom. The body functions together to serve the King, Jesus Christ, the head of the body. However, since we are people with a sinful nature, we fall and fail to work in unity sometimes. So how can we overcome our sinful natures and work together to better serve the Lord?

In order to serve together in unity, we must put others before ourselves. Romans 12:3 says, “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” Be humble and always measure your faith against yourself. Are you growing in Christ? Are you stronger in your faith today than you were yesterday? Verses 4-5 go on to say, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” Each part of the body belongs to the body itself and each other. There can be unity within the body because we belong together.

We can serve together in unity when we put others before ourselves and really learn to accept each other. Every believer has been given specific gifts to better help the body of Christ. We all fit together so we can be a part of the will of God.

Everything begins in the mind. Just a thought can determine your entire day. A thought can make you spiral into something that is hard to control. A thought often leads to a word, which can then lead to an action, and can turn into a lifestyle. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” A thought can be a dangerous thing when left alone. This verse says to take every thought captive. If our thoughts are going to lead to actions and ultimately lifestyles, then we must purify our minds so we can live a life that honors Christ.

We can honor Christ with the way we think. If we train our minds, we will find that it is easier to capture every thought. The first thing we have to do as Christians is to live differently from the world. We have to make sure we are not copying the world as Romans 12:2 says. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” The next thing we have to do is allow God to transform us. Think about the things of God as Philippians 4:8 tells us. When we think about the things of God we allow ourselves to be transformed into the person He wants us to be.

Ask Him to help you take your thoughts captive and transform your heart and mind. He can do miraculous things in your life if you allow Him to take control.

What is worship to you? Is it the songs that you sing every week at church? Is it the type of songs you sing- contemporary or traditional? People can get caught up in the type of worship rather than who we are worshipping. This very debate can cause disagreements and divisions in the church. As Christians, we must not allow these arguments disrupt us from true, authentic worship.

Worship is so much more than anything you sing or say. Romans 12:1 states, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Worship is about the Father, not about us. It is what we bring to God. We can sing with the most beautiful voice but worship will be empty if the heart is not into it. We can have all of the talent in the world, but the talent will be worth nothing if it is not used to worship the King!

Worship is all about sacrifice and what you have to offer God. He has called us to be a living sacrifice, to live everyday offering ourselves to the Lord. He wants more from us than just a Sunday morning experience. He wants all of us.

Love is the greatest attribute of all. Love is what heals after years of hurt. Love brings opposite sides together. Love looks for the good in people. 1 Corinthians 13:13 proclaims love as being the greatest (Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love). Faith is important as there is no relationship with Christ if there is no faith. Hope is what drives the Christian and helps them persevere. But love binds everything together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:14).

Faith, hope, and love are the attributes Christians should always pursue. However, why is love so great? Love heals. When relationships are broken and seem beyond repair, love can heal and bring people back together. Love restores. When things seem broken, love can repair and make new. Love lasts. When years go by and everything else fades away, love is unending. Love can change hearts, ease pain, renew faith, and bring hope to the hopeless. Hope kept the prodigal son’s father going all of those years. Faith strengthened his heart. But love gave him the ability to offer grace and forgiveness to his son. We see many other examples of this throughout the Bible.

God’s love is the greatest of all other attributes. Without love, we wouldn’t know hope, we wouldn’t have a strong faith, and our relationship with God would be based on nothing at all.

In this life we only see in part and know in part. Take a picture for instance. You can try and capture a beautiful sunset or scenic mountains; however, you can never fully capture them. You can only see part of them in a picture no matter how hard you try to capture the entire scene. We have even created panoramic view to try and capture more of it, but no matter how hard we try, we can never fully capture the beauty of God’s creation.

As humans, we only know in part. We can not see one second, one hour, one day, one week in front of us. We can only see this moment. God is not like us. He sees all. He knows what came before us. He knows what comes after us. He is the one who knows fully and can see everything. He sees the entire picture when we only see part. He knows everything, while we only know in part. This is why God is trustworthy. He knows every hair on our heads and every thought we think as it says in Psalm 139. He created us in the inmost parts, in our mothers wombs. So why is it so hard for us to trust Him still? We trust people when they know nothing about us. Maybe we are afraid of what would happen if we allowed ourselves to truly bask in His fullness. Maybe some of us are still doubtful of what we can not see.

Look at the trees, the sunsets, and the hills. Every part of Creation radiates who He is and His fullness. He knows all of creation. He knows it fully. He knows every person because they are created in His image. For that He is completely trustworthy.