You aren't here for yourself - Better together 10

Better Together – Call to Worship & Devotional Thoughts for January 16

In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn't. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus. "These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?" (Charles Schultz.)

Ephesians 4
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. … … … 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Today our scripture reminds us that our lives in the Body of Christ were meant to be lived in community. You are not here for yourself. God has intended that only as we all live united, each with our gifts, and all under His Headship will we ever experience all He intends for us. In Ephesians the Apostle Paul again tells us that Christ himself gave us each other so that the body might be build up, become mature, reach unity in the faith, and even all attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

I myself have not arrived to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ today, but the good news is that God has provided us the very support system to insure it can become a reality for each of us this year. Commit again today to do your part in the body of Christ, and then remind yourself you cannot do His work alone.

United to the body and with Christ as our Head, we are better together.

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Live holy, preach Jesus!