Cindy Powell

Note: I haven’t posted a Monday Morning Musings devotion and podcast for over a year! My how time flies. While I’m not planning to start them up every week again–at least not right now–I do hope to begin to post one or two a month. Happy Monday!

“That they may be one.”

This is His prayer.

This is His desire.

This is His longing.

That we would be one…as Jesus and the Father are one.

But what does that mean?

What does it look like?

How do we get there?

Honestly, I’m not sure any of us really know. But they’re great questions to be asking. They’re the questions we need to be asking. Because unity isn’t some great idea the Church has conjured up.

It’s the longing of God’s own heart.

When it comes to this subject of unity in the Body of Christ, I think we all get some things right, and we all get some things wrong. Maybe if we just realized that–the fact that none of us have all the answers or the only right picture of how things should play out–we’d realize just how much we need each other.

Even when we’re not in perfect agreement.

That’s because unity isn’t about perfect agreement with each other–it’s about perfect agreement with Him. When we become rightly aligned vertically, it will ultimately lead to right alignment horizontally. But we’ll never have one without the other.

This isn’t a head issue (well, except for being rightly aligned to Jesus as the Head of the Church!)–it is a heart issue. It’s not a theological issue–it’s a relational issue.When we address this issue or try to discern how to get there apart from relationship, we will almost always see it incorrectly, or, at best, incompletely.  Because the Church isn’t a theological organization, it’s an organism. It’s a living, breathing Body.

It’s a family.

We don’t model that too well. Family doesn’t mean you are equally close to everyone, or that you have the same gifts and abilities, and, it especially doesn’t mean that you agree with everyone or see things the same way. At least it doesn’t mean that in my family!

But in a healthy family, it does mean that despite our differences–everyone belongs.Everyone has a place. Everyone is loved.

I don’t claim to have many answers. I just know what we’ve been doing hasn’t worked. Because it hasn’t worked, I think it’s time to re-evaluate. It’s time to stop tearing down, and start lifting up. It’s is time to stop preaching, and start seeking to understand. It’s time to stop judging, and start supporting.

It’s time to quit avoiding the growing pains that every living thing experiences, admit we don’t know it all, and seek to learn more about His heart and His ways.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. There is room for all of us. There is a place for all of us. We don’t need to compete with each other, but we do need to complete each other. It will take all of us–including those with completely different functions and perspectives in the Body–to rightly represent Him on the earth. And, I for one, want Him to be rightly represented on the earth.

Because that’s what He wants. He wants us to be one…as Jesus and the Father are one.

I want Him to have what His heart so deeply desires.

How about you?

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Here is the podcast link: Monday Morning Musings – That They May Be One  The link is also in the sidebar and the footer. Along with some additional thoughts on this subject of unity, the podcast include some info on some gatherings coming up at the end of the month. For local peeps, check out the “Co-op ONE” page for more info.

Here is the Sound Cloud link: