Unity

"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, in no way alarmed by your opponents--which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God" (Philippians 1:27-28).

God has been challenging me a lot the last couple of weeks with unity in the church. I am so guilty of going any way opposite of unity because I am so fed up with the church in America. But as one of my posts from yesterday talked about, I must remain grounded in the church and work in, among, from the church, as God intended it to be. How am I to do that when I disagree with so much that the church believes, stands for, and does? I posed this question to my dad a couple weeks ago in Bible study when we studied John 17 where Jesus prays that the disciples would be one as He and the Father are one. My dad said that where we all fall short is that we take our focus off of Christ and place it onto those ideas, issues, opinions, etc. that differ between us. We must all keep our focus on Christ, and then we will stand firm together with one mind for the sake of the gospel as Paul talks about here. Ok, guilty as charged. I've taken my focus off of Christ and placed it onto all these new ideas and perspectives that God's been teaching me and challenging me with, which makes me even more bitter toward and frustrated with the church than I already was! God, continually remind me that you must be my focus, purpose, and reason.

Verse 28 talks about our opponents. What happens when I feel like the church is my strongest opponent (and quite possibly God's biggest opponent??)? That can't be right or healthy. Is that really true, or is it just my fallen way of looking at things? It is people in the church who discourage me from going overseas; they are the ones who try to convince me to stay in the US "where it's safe". It is the church that snuffs out ideas of helping the poor if it costs them their pocketbooks. It is the church that turns a deaf ear to the cries of AIDS victims and orphans because "it's a consequence of their own sin". It is the church that has turned their backs on the homeless, homosexuals, girls who've had abortions, the trafficked, Democrats, etc. What kind of church is that? Not one that represents Christ or His kingdom, that's for sure! This church seems like more God's enemy than His friend. Yet I am a part of it. I am a part of the problem. God, forgive me and use me from now on to be part of the solution, rather than the problem. Use me as an advocate for the things that you care about, for the things that break your heart. Radically change the church to once again be an instrument of your righteousness.

Let us all conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ--far from the way we are conducting ourselves now.