Bunker-Busting Bomb

“But one and the same Spirit works all things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”

1 Corinthians 12:11

 

Why? Why would one and the same Spirit distribute gifts to each one? What is His will? Keep reading. “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ.” Ah, so that we can become one body. In all truthfulness, I never realized what a big deal this one body thing was until I came here. But Jesus makes it clear as He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane what His desire for us is.

          “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

          I’ll admit, too much unity talk freaks me out. It carries vibes of some weird ecumentical, all inclusive, can’t-we-all-just-get-along, pseudo-religious, kum-ba-ah mentality that makes me sick. There are so many people out their claiming to be Christians who do not follow Christ. They profess Jesus as Lord but refuse to obey the commands that He has clearly given. They tell us that Jesus loves everyone except those narrow-minded, fanatic bigots who dare to take His word literally. But these aren’t the folks that Jesus is referring to. He’s talking about the Bride, the true followers of The Way, and I don’t mean the cult. He’s referring to everyone who knows Him and obeys His word. Just as Scripture warns us to be on the lookout for false teachers and those who would bring another gospel into our midst, so we are to beware of bringing division to the body.

          I know that I have been the cause of division within the body many times. Even if the words never left my head, my heart was one of bitterness and frustration. Rather than pray for the body, I’ve railed against it. Rather than encourage, I’ve criticized. Rather than help, I’ve hurt. Make no mistakes, there is a time for confrontation. There is a time to call sin sin and hypocrisy hypocrisy. But am I to do it in the holier-than-thou attitude that I’ve been doing it? Or should I, in the power of the Holy Spirit, speak only when He tells me to speak only what He would have me speak, and shut up when He tells me to shut up.

          Paul tells Titus, “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.” Ouch! That one hurt.

          It’s about time I allowed the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit, both in my own life and in the life of others. It’s time to speak when He says to speak, and only when He says to speak. It’s time to build up the Body of Christ in these last days. We are being attacked enough from without. The last thing we need right now is bunker-busting bomb to undermine the health and strength of the body.

 

Application: Today, I will confess my sin of being an agent of division within the body, and when something comes up, because it undoubtedly will, I will check my heart and my motives before a word comes out of my mouth.