Before he went to the cross, Jesus prayed to the Father the following prayer in John 17:
" 20 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message. 21 May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me. 22 I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one. 23 I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me." ~HSB
He prayed this prayer for all believers. I fear we have divided the body of Christ over the years. Through man assigning his own rituals and rights to Christianity, he has divided the body into different denominations and different independent "non-denominations". Each of which has its own set of rights and rituals (Biblical or not) that are to be followed. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Southern Baptist) I don't wish to cast any denomination or non-denominational in a bad light.
The Body of Christ rarely comes together outside of our individual denominations. I believe this is not what Jesus had in mind when he prayed for all of us believers.
I believe that we as believers should look for ways to come together in the Name of Jesus and pray for our communities, states, country, and the world. I believe this is needed more today than ever before in history. I believe we are in the last days before Jesus comes back to claim His church and that this country and the world is being attacked constantly by the evil one. There is no moral courage left in this country or the world. The secular world does not believe there is evil in this world nor do they believe in absolutes. To believe in absolutes means one has to judge behavior and to judge behavior is to be judged. To be judged means that one cannot live life as he wishes. "What is right for you is not right for me."
The economy has and continues to go south. Man's wealth is turning to dust before his eyes. The country and the world is in dire straits with no sign that anything will improve anytime in the near or distant future. Man needs our prayer. We need to look for ways to come together in our communities and pray for the lost and fallen.
I don't know how to make this happen but I know we are going through some very trying times. Please pray for the lost and fallen and that God would continue use The Body for His glory.
God bless you all.
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Well said. While many of the denominations came about for virtuous reasons (though some not-so-much, as well), the division has become a stumbling block to a lost world and a divisive issue within the body. There are some legitimate reasons why Christians cannot worship (that is celebrate, love and serve the Living God) together, but in general Christians are One Body... One Family... the Namesake of One Savior. Failure for us to do so works in opposition with the work of Christ.
ReplyDeleteI agree in that I don't think that Christ wanted us to be divided in different denominations. I think that is something that we as man have created because we can not agree on something as rock solid as the Bible. I agree that we do need to ban together - imagine what could happen if all the Christians in the world were praying for each other, despite their denominations. What a world it would be...
ReplyDeleteLaura