As a Christian the Bible informs and shapes my view of the world, because I know the Bible to be the inspired Word of God to all people and the only source of Truth.
The Bible is the springboard that launches a person into a life immersed in God, the creator and sustainer of all things. As simply as I can say it, from it we learn that God created everything and everyone, including Satan. God knew that when He created Satan that he would revolt against God introducing sin and the resulting death that comes from it.
Satan's rebellion unleashed every negative and imperfect thing that exists in all of creation. This truth causes many difficulty in believing in a God who would create that possibility at all. As hard to understand as this may be the existence of Satan is a necessary evil as he stands as the alternative to God.
The Bible says in the Gospel of John 8:36 that if the Son of God has set us free we are free INDEED. The freedom spoken of here is the freedom to choose which alternative we want; God or Satan. A love relationship hinges on the freedom of each person to choose whom they desire. A love relationship is what God wants with us. Considering our options it appears that God was doing His best to make the choice an easy one. However, we still seem to have trouble with that choice.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News, provides the Way back to God, by choosing to trust in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. It's Good News because through faith in the life and work, death and resurrection of Jesus, I, and anyone who believes this, are restored to fellowship with our Creator, the one who loves us most.
As believers and followers of Jesus Christ we are, our should be, thankful for this truth, that God has restored us to fellowship with Him. But that's only part of the story.
Jesus died to pay the price for our sin. He was Crucified on a Roman cross, an excruciating form of capital punishment. Someone once pointed to the form of the cross upon which Jesus died, how that it was constructed out of two large pieces of wood. One vertical post and a horizontal beam. It was noted that in form of the cross we see the extent of God's plan of reconciliation.
As believers we are very much aware that Christ's work provided the way for man to be reconciled to God. The vertical post of the cross is said to stand as a representation of that reconciling work. But that's only part of the reconciling work accomplished in the cross of Jesus Christ.
There is a horizontal beam on the cross as well. It stands for the other work of reconciliation accomplished through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, that is the Reconciling work of Man to Man. The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Roman church, chapter five and verse one says that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, a life changing reality too great for words. Yet, this is only part of what the cross has made possible. God has provided a way for us to live at peace with each other as well.
Peace has been described as the absence of war. The peace that God has provided is not just the absence of war but the possibility and realization of close, personal, and intimate fellowship with Him AND WITH EACH OTHER.
I am blessed to be a father of four really great, now adult, children. One of my great pleasures in life is realized when we all get together. I am so grateful that there aren't any conflicts (wars) between any of my children. But if that was all there was, the absence of war, my heart would be broken.
That there is no conflict is NOT enough. What fills my soul with joy is that my children love each other, and do not life in indifferent to each other. We get together often and enjoy each other's company, and look forward to spending time together, and do not like being apart. This is what fills my heart with joy.
God is our Father, and He is no different. He is certainly glad that we are restored to Him, and that we are not in conflict with each other, but that is not enough for Him either. His desire, the full purpose of the cross, is that we do not live indifferent to each other, but rather grow to love each other and get together joyfully as a family.
In the Gospel of John chapter seventeen Jesus plainly articulates the heart of God praying that We would be One even as Jesus and the Father are one. The Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit all exist together in Perfect unity, in perfect love and agreement and fellowship. This is God's desire for all believers.
It is an amazing blessing when a congregation of believers has no conflict. It's infinitely better, and maybe rare, when they truly love each other and do life together because they do not like being apart. Achieving this is a great thing. Yet it is not enough.
The Church, the family of God, is not just the local congregation of which a believer is a part. The Church is formed of Every Believer in that city, county, state, nation, even the world. You may ask "Are you saying that we need to all be a part of the same congregation?" My answer to that would be "No!" But while I don't believe that we need to attend the same congregation of believers, I do believe that we have to learn to love and not live indifferent to our brothers and sisters in the many congregations that exist across our city.
If we are truly followers of Jesus then we want every person in our city to become followers of Jesus as well. To go from death to life through faith in Jesus Christ. That is in fact our mission, to spread this Gospel of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
Did you know that Jesus revealed the secret to the most powerful and effective form of witness to the unbelieving world? In the Gospel of John 13:35, Jesus says "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one TO another."
It's a little word, but an important one, the word "to." Simply put in context is to say that when we love each in ways that are Visible to the unbelieving world it proves, or is evidence to them that Jesus exists and is the Son of God, and that we really do belong to Him.
It's not hard to believe that any one congregation gets along, ungodly civic organizations do that. But when, across self imposed denomination lines (which God does not ordain), we actively, intentionally, through planning and effort, come together in love for God and each other our witness to the world of the reality of Jesus as the Son of God and God as the Father of us all, shines brightest.
The psalmist in Psalm 133 said "How blessed it is when the brethren dwell together in unity." He was expressing the heart of God as God.
We need to expand our horizons across that horizontal beam to reach out, across all self imposed boundaries, to our brothers and sisters in different congregations and denominations, to the glory of God and the benefit of the unbelieving world around us.
Let's ponder this alone and in prayer with our Heavenly Father allowing Him to water the seed of this idea in our hearts. When we do, because this is God's desire for us, it will produce a wonderful harvest, a fruit that the Church in Turlock has not yet tasted, and it will be sweet to the tongue.
We are "Better Together."
Blessings to you, in Jesus name!

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