One Body in Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

Sadly, I see much division between the body of Christ. This can be because of theological differences, lifestyle differences among the followers of the Lord, cultural differences between one country and another, and more. One estimate says that there are 45,000 Christian church denominations globally and so many of these churches are siloed from the others. They may have limited contact with other church bodies or only come together for special events.

One of the greatest military generals of all time was Julius Caesar. We have a famous quote from him on his strategy for defeating his enemies, “divide and conquer”. Is the enemy of the church working hard to divide us from one another? Does our enemy know that there is strength in numbers and to limit the impact we can have on the world, he works tirelessly to divide us?

Let us consider what kind of impact the body of Christ could have if we all worked together for one day. Estimates number Christians between 2 billion and 3 billion worldwide. Let us imagine if only 1 billion planned a single day event across the world. If all of us agreed that one month from now, we were all going to go outside our home and share the Gospel with people at work, people shopping, people on the street, and everywhere. Or what if we planned on feeding and sheltering the homeless all on the same day and sharing the Gospel with them. Or what if we all went to the hospitals and senior care homes to pray and offer hope to the sick, lonely, and forgotten. Altogether, on one day, each in our respective local area.

The secular societies across the world would be stunned, shocked, and filled with wonder. How much more of an impact could we have if we did this every day? What a glorious thought to think we could all be living out our faith through works every single day, as a unified body in Christ. This doesn’t mean we will all agree or live exactly the same way, but we should be unified in our love of the Lord first. Wanting to please Him with pure thoughts, words, and actions. Striving to bear the fruit of the Spirit before all mankind. Yearning to share the Gospel message that changed our life, with everyone.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”