We are One-in-Christ
Our church held a combined service with a Hispanic church last Sunday. As I listened to their Pastor preach in Spanish and his wife’s translation it occurred to me, that we are all One in Christ.
We follow the same God and read the same Bible, although in different languages. But the message is the same. God loved us so much that He came in the form of a man to live among us and to reconcile us to Himself. That through His death on the cross we might be forgiven and through His resurrection we have proof that He is who He said He was, and the hope of our own resurrection.
But we forget these things.
We are living in a world that is so divided these days.
Rich against poor, white against black, liberal against conservative and on and on it goes.
I think we need to take a step back and see what is real and what is true.
One of the things that Pastor Carlos mentioned in his message was that even though he was from a Spanish speaking country, even the countries around his who speak Spanish, had different cultures and different customs. We see the same things in our own country. Those from the south are different from those in the north-east or the mid-west or the west. We have a different sound to our voices and different customs even though we all live in the same country.
It occurs to me that just as we are all American’s because we all live in this country, in spite of our differences, we are also all one in Christ because we all follow the same Jesus. Our languages are different and so are our customs, but if we are in Christ we are all the same.
Why do we put so much effort into ripping into each other just because one group has more money than another group? What does it matter?
I live in America, in a middle class home on a lower middle class income that just gets us by. While I would love to have more money to spend or to upgrade our older cars, I don’t demonize those who have more than I do. To most of the rest of the world, I live like a millionaire. To someone in Central Africa living in a mud and grass hut, my home is a palace. Do they want to tear me down? No, they just do what they have to do to get by. They make and sell jewelry, or grow fruit or create art out of wood and whatever they have on hand. Some of them beg, but most of them find something to sell that will give them an income so they can get by.
There is one thing that we have in common with these people, we have or can have Christ in our lives. With Christ the rich and the poor are equal, there is no difference.
If you have money and make a comfortable living, that’s a good thing. Be thankful that God has provided for you.
Don’t put all your hope and trust in money, it comes and it goes.
Christ is forever.
There is something the Lord is trying to teach my wife and I, that He loves us and He will take care of us. He’s helped us in the big things that we’ve needed and in the small things. He is always there and ever faithful, though we might not always understand why He does what He does. God has seen both my wife and I through some very tough times. He’s been there in our lows and our highs.
The rich and the poor are one in Christ. One group should not envy the other or put down the other.
Here is what I think Jesus would tell us.
- If we have money, be generous with it and help those who don’t.
- If we haven’t much money but are able to work, then work to better ourselves.
- If we can’t work and have to get by on help from others than be thankful for anything they offer. (Truly anything that you receive is from the Lord.)
We divide ourselves in other ways, white against black or brown or red or yellow.
We pit one race of people against another, why?
We think someone is less of a human because their skin is different than ours or their face is shaped strangely.
What difference does that make?
In Christ we are all the same.
We are all His children.
He came to save ALL of us.
The only difference in the races is education and the environment they grow up in.
To a so called educated man, an aborigine is an ignorant fool because he doesn’t know how to read or write. But to that same aborigine, the so called educated man is the fool because he doesn’t know how to read the sky or fine food and water in the wilderness.
I am educated, I went to college here in the USA, but if you put me down in the middle of Russia where I don’t know the language or the customs, I would be highly UNEDUCATED in the eyes of the locals. I would look equally out of place in an inner city black neighborhood. Does that make me better than either of these people? No…
In the eyes of Jesus I am as equal as the aborigine or the Russian or the inner city black man.
God created all of us; white, black, red, brown or yellow… one race is no better or worse than another.
Any person, no matter what part of the world they come from or where they fall on the economic ladder, can come to Christ and be accepted as His forever. Race doesn’t matter to God, He created them all.
We in this country and in many countries today, also divide ourselves as liberal and conservative, the left and the right. Today in American there is such hatred between many of those from one side or the other.
Why is that I wonder?
One side feels the other side is taking the country down the path of destruction and the other side feels the same.
It seems half the country goes into morning or depression when someone from the other side is elected. Or they go into denial. They just can’t accept the fact that someone other than their candidate won.
They push back against the other side so much that nothing does get done or can get done.
I know that there are good Christian men and women on both sides of the aisle. Honestly, kids, one side or the other, does not want to destroy the country or the planet. They just have different ways of getting things done.
It’s sad to see what is happening to this country today. One side will not work with the other, no matter what. And it’s been the same over the last few years, no matter who’s in power.
So, nothing of note gets done.
Yet, Jesus loves both sides and would have them work together for the good of all.
I long for the day when Christ will be on the throne, but until that day we must find a way to get along with each other.
The liberal person is not the only one with a heart and the conservative is not the heartless one.
Great good can be done if we stop demonizing each other and come together as one people.
Jesus is the Lord of ALL and He calls ALL of us to Himself. He wants to be in relationship with each of us. All we have to do is ask Him to come into our lives and accept what He did for us on the Cross.
Liberal, conservative, white, black, brown, red or yellow, rich or poor, we are all created by God and we are all loved by Him. It doesn’t matter what country we come from, if we will come to Him, He will come into us and be with us.
Sadly there are far too many of us who are lost in our prejudices and will never accept someone who is on the other side of whatever side we are on. It’s not a good way to live and fills lives with hate and envy.
To the Lord it doesn’t matter where we are from or who we think we are, He loves us and wants to be a part of our lives, if only we let Him in.
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