My work week had been exhausting. When I got up on Saturday morning, I felt drained – spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Then I realized that I had to preach and lead worship the next morning. I love to preach, but I felt tired, unfocused, and not even in a mood to preach on Sunday. I’d rather have stayed home and rested on that rainy November weekend. I groaned, and this groaning of my spirit was a prayer for the Spirit and Power of God.

Mysteriously, time and again, I have felt my strength and spirit renewed by God’s Spirit. It happened again this time. Suddenly I elt ready to prepare my message, in constant prayer seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit that the message may be truthful, powerful, relevant, and full of grace. This process of partnering with God energizes me and propels my faith to go deeper and broader.

We all get into situations that we feel unprepared for, too tired to do, totally unfocused to accomplish, or a number of other reasons we could fail at a task that is set before us. When we find ourselves in a situation like that we have two choices. We can either dig deep and rely on our own strength and wisdom or we can submit to God our inadequacies and weaknesses and rely on the Holy Spirit. Sometimes digging deep into our own well will get us through, but if we rely on the Holy Spirit then we will be graced with what we ourselves lack and we will give honor and glory to God.

In those times when I’d rather nap than preach I move quickly into prayer. I confess to the God that I can’t do what I am being called to do, sometimes confessing that I don’t even want to preach. I pray that God will so fill me with the Holy Spirit that this last message will be given with godly focus, power, and wisdom so that all the honor and glory may be given to God. I then enter the service, I preach, the service ends, and I am amazed and overwhelmed at the power of God! It truly wasn’t me – it was the Holy Spirit!

Bringing It Home:
1. What in your life have you been working hard at on with just your own power and coming up short? In prayer, partner with God so that you can serve God beyond your own abilities!
2. Do you know someone who is struggling with something they are trying to do without the power of God in their lives? Invite them to ask God to help them.

Prayer:
God, I confess that I too often live my life and serve you on my own power. Please forgive me for not asking you to be the power in my life. Guide me, grant me your Spirit’s wisdom and strength so that the life you call me to will honor you. Amen.

John A. Holm
Transforming Church Institute
www.transformingchurch.net

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Dying to self daily is what Paul spoke of so often. It is how we walk in the “Spirit” and not in the “flesh” as we are instructed in Romans Chapter 8 and Galatians Chapter 5. The whole issue of dying to self daily is the absolute key to living a victorious life in Christ. It literally means that you have to die to self DAILY!

This is why so many people who are saved, love the Lord, live beneath their blessings and in constant turmoil. This is how people who know Christ as their Savior end up committing adultery, cheat people, lie, get in bondage to drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling, shopping, greed, and anything else people become enslaved to. They don’t die to self each day and end up walking in the “flesh” and NOT the “Spirit.”

People wonder all the time how a pastor, a deacon, an elder, someone in the leadership of God’s church could leave their wife and run off with another woman. People wonder all the time how a Sunday School teacher who loves the Lord could neglect her children and family because of alcohol. Maybe you are wondering how you could be raising your hands to Jesus, speaking in tongues, and being used by God to touch lives one day, and sinning against God the next. The answer is when you fail to die to self each day, you are walking in the “flesh,” not the “Spirit.”

The question that needs to be addressed today is HOW does a person “die to self?” The first step is an action, something that you must do. Dying to self is a conscious choice that you must make, one nobody can make for you. It is the act of surrendering your life completely to Christ. The reason God’s Word talks about dying to self DAILY is because it is something that we must do each and every day. Our life with Christ is not for an hour or two on Sunday, but literally 24/7. It is critical to make the choice to die to self each and every day.

Since this is something you must do each day, I do it and counsel others to do it the moment you wake up in the morning. As I first open my eyes to a new day, before I do anything I take a moment and thank God for a day that was not promised to me and make the conscious choice to completely surrender my life to Him that day. I literally tell God to take my life and use it for His glory that day, to use me as an instrument of blessing. When we get saved, we not only ask Christ into our heart and life by faith, but we give our very lives to Him. In dying to self each day, we are reaffirming that our life doesn’t belong to us any longer, it is His.

At the moment we are born again, we receive the promise of the “Comforter,” or the Holy Spirit. Each Believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit to empower them and guide them throughout their life. It is literally the power of Almighty God living within each person who has given their heart and life to Christ by faith. As you surrender your life afresh to Christ at the start of each day, you are allowing your life to be controlled by the Holy Sprit and not by your flesh. It is no longer you but God that is in complete control of your life. You have traded in your thoughts and desires for God’s thoughts and desires. It is not YOU that is living, it is Christ living in you as Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20.

This whole process takes only a few minutes of time alone with the Lord, but it is the most important few minutes of your day. When you don’t go through this process each and every morning, you wake up, start going through your day, and not only does it feel like the day is weighing you down, you don’t have that confidence. The reality is, the day IS weighing you down because you are operating in your strength and not the Lord’s, and the lack of confidence comes from the fact you are in control of your life and not Christ.

Sadly, some people go days, even weeks without really dying to self, and it usually takes the consequences of their poor choices during that time to bring them back to the Lord. Like I say often, your way doesn’t work, God’s way works! Let me give you some advice out of my love for you. You can never run your life better than God can. The sooner you realize that, the more peace, joy, and abundance you will know during this journey through life.

There is probably no more critical a message I will ever share with you in living a victorious life in Christ than the one today. All of the benefits in God’s Word exist and are available to those who believe, but there is a price to pay and that price is our very life surrendered, yielded to the Lord. It is a choice, an act, that nobody can force you to commit. The important thing for you to hear today is that it is not something you do just once and forget about. It is something that you must do DAILY! EVERY DAY! WITHOUT FAIL! Each morning when you wake up, you have to make the conscious choice to die to self, to surrender your life to Christ, and walk in the “Spirit” instead of the “flesh.”

I love you and care about you so much. The difference between a person who knows the Lord as their Savior living a defeated life and a victorious life, lies in what I am sharing with you today. Please, save your money. You don’t need to waste it listening to Tony Robbins or the motivational speakers of the world lie to you that you can do it on your own, and you don’t need to spend it on books and tapes from preachers who preach a feel good Gospel but forget to tell you about the sacrifice involved. The key to living a victorious life in Christ lies in you waking up each morning and making the conscious choice to die to self and allow Christ to control your life.

The fact is, the Bible says that if you have asked Christ into you heart and life by faith, it is no longer your life, that it belongs to Him. The Word says we have been “bought with a price.” So in essence, each day you are only giving the Lord what already belongs to Him anyway. Remember my message in the past on what really happens when we get saved? We are literally giving our life to Christ. It is no longer ours, but is now His. The reality is, each morning when we wake up, we have to make the choice to die to self so that Christ can live within us during that day. If we don’t do this each and every day when we wake up, we will soon find ourselves walking in the “flesh” and not the “Spirit.”

I will be praying for you today. Praying that you will sit down and read this message over and over. This is the meat and potatoes of the Word. This is where the rubber meets the road in regard to our Christian walk. This is the part that nobody really wants to talk about since we love the benefits of being saved, but we really don’t want to think about the price that Jesus paid or the sacrifice we have to make each day. You MUST think about it since it is the difference between you living a defeated life and living a victorious life. To live that victorious life in Christ, to walk in His victory, you have to die to self each day so that you are walking in the “Spirit” and not the “flesh” so that it is Christ, not you that lives.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller
LivePrayer.com

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Life is a mist, are YOU ready to stand before God?

Last June, Tim Russert, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press and the Washington Bureau Chief for NBC news, woke up in Europe with his wife and son where they were celebrating his son’s graduation from college. He flew back to Washington in the morning to prepare for that Sunday’s Meet the Press program and was in the audio booth cutting some of the audio for the program when he had a heart attack and died.

Russert’s death is a classic reminder of what I share with you so often of how fragile this life is and how quickly it is over. Tim Russert woke up that morning in Europe, flew to Washington, was in his office preparing for his Sunday television program, and died before the day was over.

My friend, tomorrow is promised to none of us. We never know if we will even see the end of today!!!

We all take our lives for granted most of the time. TODAY, take a moment, and realize how brief your life really is. I am thankful to God to be here today, to still be doing what He has called me to do. But I never forget for a moment, our life is a gift from above. Don’t take it for granted!

For each one of us, the one certainty is that one day this life will be over and we will pass into eternity. It is not a question of if, only when. That is why I try often to reinforce to you that we must live each day to its fullest. Our purpose in this life is to serve and glorify God. When it is over, the only thing that we will take with us from this life is our personal relationship with Christ.

Back in August of 2001, I had a chance to play in a charity golf tournament. During these past 111+ months since Liveprayer started, I have had very little time to play a game I really enjoy. It was a very enjoyable round. Beautiful country club near Brandon, Florida. Warm but overcast Florida summer day. Wonderful people playing. Not to mention I actually played pretty well for not having played much.

On the 8th hole, I hit a 150 yard approach a little short and ended up in a greenside bunker. I was talking to the gentleman I was playing with as we approached the bunker. I have always had a very bad habit of chewing on my tee while playing. Nervous energy I guess. As I waited for another player in our foursome to hit his shot, I took a deep breath and actually inhaled the tee.

At first, I didn’t know what happened. Then, when I realized I had inhaled the tee, I tried to cough it up. It became apparent that it would not come out, and had gotten lodged in my throat part of the way down. One of the men came running over and asked if he should call 911. I told him yes. At this point, I realized the key was staying calm, and breathing. I was able to breath through my nose, so that kept me from panicking. My playing partner got behind me and tried to pop it out of me that way, but it was lodged in my throat sideways and that didn’t work. I could also now feel some blood running down my throat, obviously from the cut in my throat where the tee was lodged.

At this point, there was about a 30 second period when all of this was happening where an incredible calm came over me. In a very clear and concise way, I realized that I may actually die. You never know how these things will play out, and that was a legitimate possibility. My thought at this was one of gratitude. I remember clearly thanking God for such a wonderful life. I wasn’t praying for God to heal me, or take the tee out of my throat. I wasn’t begging for my life. I wasn’t mad at God. I just had a great peace about me, and an incredible sense of gratitude to God for allowing me to live such a wonderful life.

It seemed that within seconds I forced myself to swallow hard and all of the sudden felt the tee dislodge and go down. I drank some water, got my sand wedge, and hit a great bunker shot within a few feet of the hole! I got back to my golf cart and called my wife and simply told her how much I loved her. Even though I was still spitting up blood from where my throat was cut for the next several holes, I did finish the round. Needless to say, I have been broken of the habit of chewing on tees!

I share this with you today just to remind you how precious life really is. Not only how precious, but how quickly it can end. DON’T EVER TAKE YOUR LIFE FOR GRANTED. EACH DAY IS A SPECIAL GIFT FROM GOD. Let me also say that for anyone reading this today, that does not have 100% assurance that if your life ends today you will spend eternity with God, the Bible says TODAY is the day of salvation. Please take a few minutes, the most important few minutes of your life, and go to: http://liveprayer.com/plan.cfm . Pray and ask God to open your heart, then read the words and watch the short video clip. Please share it with everyone that you know who doesn’t know Jesus as their Savior.

I love you and care about you so very much. Please pray for Tim Russert’s wife and family, that they will know the Lords comfort and strength as they continue to deal with their loss. I don’t know if Tim had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or not, but I know the second he took his last breath he was standing before God. At that moment, it didn’t matter that he was the well known host of Meet the Press, the only thing that mattered was if He knew Jesus as His personal Lord and Savior.

Death is a part of the human experience. The Bible says “O death, where is thy sting!” For those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ it is not an event to be feared, but one that simply marks the end of our time in this life. Don’t ever forget this important point. Only God says when our work here is over. So have no fear. As long as He still has work for us to do, we aren’t going anywhere. I guess He still has some work for me to do, just like He does you. I pray each day we are found faithful to that work until the day He calls us home!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller
LivePrayer.com

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What’s a family for? Here’s a picture to consider: a family is a shelter in storms. A couple of months ago I was out golfing with some friends. While the weather was beautiful when we started, by the middle of the round storm clouds had gathered all around us. Suddenly an employee of the golf course came in a golf cart and told us a nasty storm was coming. He picked us up and quickly drove us to a shelter house. Just as we arrived the skies opened up and we experienced one of the most intense thunderstorms I have ever been in. The rain was torrential. The lightening was constant, with close strikes all around us. I love a good storm, but this one was frightening. I was awfully grateful to be in that little shelter house.

Life is tough. Jesus said, “In this world you will have many troubles,” and like in everything else, he was absolutely right. While some days are 72 degrees and sunny, most of us experience some pretty severe storms in life, storms that threaten to wash us away. Things don’t always go as planned. And in those tough times we need a place of shelter. We need a place of protection, stability, security.

Proverbs 14:26 says it well: “Reverence for the Lord gives a man deep strength; his children have a place of refuge and security.” Refuge and security – that’s what a family is supposed to provide. Our families can’t prevent every storm, but they can provide us shelter – refuge and security in tumultuous times.

Whenever I’ve had a tough day, I know that I can go home and ask my wife, Nancy, to sit on the back porch swing, or take a walk with me, and just let me dump. No matter how hard the day has been, no matter how wet I’ve gotten in the storms of life throughout the day, my family is a shelter, a place of refuge, a place of safety where I can dry off, regain perspective, and find comfort.

The family of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, is meant to serve the same function. The body of Christ is meant to be a shelter in the storms of life as well.

A little over a year ago, a storm of epic proportions tore through the lives of thousands of people in the Gulf region. Thousands of homes were destroyed. And while government infrastructure has struggled to respond, the family of God, brothers and sisters in Christ just like you and me, have become a very real shelter - a point of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. Many of you have made a phenomenal difference in the lives of broken, hurting and frightened people through your generosity. What an awesome witness to the love the God.

The nuclear family - and the family of faith - are designed to be a shelter in the storms of life.

Bringing It Home
1. Whenever the family of God serves as a shelter in the storms of life it brings glory to God. Who can you reach out to this week?
2. Who in your family or church has served as a shelter in a storm? Send them a note of thanks today.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, ultimately you are our shelter and our strength in difficult times, but you have chosen to extend your love and grace through the lives of those who belong to you. Thank you for those who have held us fast and provided a refuge during the storms of life. Help us to extend that same gift of grace to others who are barely holding their heads above water. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

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From the story of the generous widow we learned that genuine giving is proportionate. How much we give matters only in proportion to how much we keep. From the story of Zacchaeus we learn the second principle of genuine giving: genuine giving is sacrificial. Giving out of our excess is not genuine giving. The sacrificial giving of a sinner moved Jesus heart and spirit. I’m not saying you shouldn’t give if you’re not doing it sacrificially; what I am saying is that I don’t believe that kind of giving srengthens your faith, the kind of faith that brings you salvation and eternal life.

Let me give you an illustration from the physical world. If you want to strengthen your muscles you must work them beyond their current ability. In other words, you must lift a weight that is heavy enough to exhaust you by lifting it 5-7 times. Lifting a very light weight many times will not strengthen your muscles.

One of the reasons I believe God calls us to give sacrificially is that it strengthens our faith and helps us grow spiritually. If we merely give out of our excess we don’t give God the opportunity to prove his faithfulness. That’s like lifting a very light weight. It won’t strengthen your muscles. But when we give sacrificially, when we give to the point of it hurting a bit, we exercise our faith…we learn to trust in God by giving him a chance to prove himself trustworthy.

This is at the heart of this whole stewardship conversation…the issue of trust. Every piece of money minted in this country has the same four words printed on it, “In God we trust.” That’s the biggest
lie in America. If we’re honest we’ll admit that most of us put a lot more trust in the security of money than we do in the security of God’s promises. There’s a word for that; it’s called idolatry. I believe that money is the greatest idol in our culture. And nothing breaks the spell of material idolatry like proportionate, sacrificial stewardship. Let me be clear: giving isn’t for God’s benefit. It isn’t for the church’s benefit. Genuine giving benefits us. It strengthens our faith and protects us from idolatry.

Bringing It Home
1. Be honest…is your current giving sacrificial, or are you giving out of your excess? In what ways does your giving impact the way that you live?
2. Spend some time in prayer and let the Holy Spirit search your heart for any hint of idolatry in relationship to your finances. Your checkbook and credit card statements might just help your meditation!

Prayer:
Father, it’s so easy to say that we trust in you and in your provision for us and yet we so often find our deepest security in what we own or in our savings. Help us to distinguish between our wants and our needs. Teach us to simplify the former and trust you for the latter. Set us free from any financial bondage that we may suffer from, that we might be free to give as you graciously provide. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

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While many people wish the church wouldn’t talk about money, the truth is Jesus had lots to say on the subject. In this series of devotions we’re exploring what Jesus teaches about genuine giving.

First, genuine giving is proportionate. How much we give only matters in proportion to how much we keep. That’s why Jesus made a big deal out of the widow’s offering in today’s bible reading. The widow didn’t give much, but she gave all she had, and that’s why Jesus said that the widow had given more than anyone else. The amount given was small, but the proportion was huge. Why does the proportion matter? Because it’s a commentary on the status of our heart. The proportion of our giving speaks to the status of our heart before God, the openness of our spirit and the depth of our gratitude.

Far too many Christians imagine that they’ll be more generous if and when they become rich, but the amount of money we have doesn’t matter. Generosity has more to do with the proportion we give than it does with the actual amount we give…no matter how much we actually own. Lots or wealthy people were giving offerings at the same time that the widow was giving her offering, but they were giving out of their excess. Their proportion was small and Jesus was unimpressed.

Consider this: a philanthropy study a few years ago found that those who earned under $10,000 gave an average of 5.2% of their income to charity. Those who earned between $10,000 and $19,999 gave an average of 3.3% of their income. And those who earned between $75,000 and $99,999 gave only 1.6%. I’ll say it again: how much you give only matters in proportion to how much you keep. Genuine giving is proportionate.

Do you know what proportion of your wealth you are giving to God? Let me challenge you to calculate it. Most of us think little of tipping a waiter or waitress 15% for good service at a restaurant, and yet we balk at giving even 10% to the Lord. What does the proportion of your giving say about your heart? Does it reflect your gratitude for all that God has given you? Genuine giving does!

Bringing It Home
1. Take a few moments to calculate the percentage of your giving relative to your income. You decide if you want to count just your giving to your church or all your charitable giving. You can also decide whether you wish to calculate from your gross or net income.
2. Honestly ask yourself, “Does my giving reflect my gratitude?” If you don’t like your answer, check your heart and change your behavior.

Prayer:
Lord, you said that where my treasure is, there my heart will be also. I want my heart to be with you. Grant me grace to be a genuine giver, not because you demand it but because you called me to live in generosity. Soften my heart where it is hard; open my hand when it is clenched. Thank you for freeing me to give. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

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While I was attending seminary my wife and I took a Sunday to worship at a Holiness Church. We figured we were going to worship in Lutheran churches for the rest of our lives when I finally graduated, so why not try something really different?

This church was located in a very poor part of the city. For a seminary couple my wife and I were rich, thanks to my wife’s fulltime work at a major accounting firm. When the offering baskets came around on long poles I noticed that everyone was putting in change. I felt so sorry for these poor people so I put some folding money in the basket and felt pretty darned magnanimous. Until, that is, about a half hour later when they passed the basket again for people’s “gifts and offerings”. This time those saints of God were dropping all sorts of bills into the basket. I sheepishly grabbed my wallet and emptied whatever I had left into the plate.

But they weren’t done yet. About an hour later it was time for people to bring forward their tithes. I couldn’t believe my eyes. People were stuffing all sorts of money into envelopes and walking them up to the front of the church where they dropped them into a big basket and received a blessing from the pastor. And what blew me away was the joy I saw on people’s faces as they brought those tithes forward. Some of them literally danced up to the altar and danced back to their pews. I just sat and begged God to forgive my arrogance, my stinginess, and my weak faith.

I learned an important lesson that day about genuine giving. I’d given an offering that day…two, as a matter of fact. But my giving was far from genuine. And that’s what I want to share with you in the next few devotions…what the Bible has to say about genuine giving. People give for lots of different reasons, but not all giving accomplishes what God wants to accomplish in our lives. We don’t give for God’s sake; we give because we need to…we give because God wants to do something in our lives through our giving. Through the gift of God’s grace we are free to give.

Bringing It Home
1. What’s your honest attitude about giving? When you give do you count it as gain or loss?
2. Does your heart tend toward shame or pride when it comes to your giving? Pray about it. Remember that growth in giving requires growth in faith.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, every good thing comes from your hand. Grant me the grace to know that truth in the depths of my soul, and allow it to well up into a life of generosity. Cleanse my heart from any attitude or perspective that would keep me from knowing the freedom that comes from generous and genuine giving. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

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Tuesday - Ironing Day: Dear Lord, help me to iron out all the wrinkles of prejudice I have collected through the years so that I may see the beauty in others.

Wednesday - Mending Day: O God, help me to mend my ways so I will not set bad example for others.

Thursday - Cleaning Day: Lord Jesus, help me to dust out all the many faults I have been hiding in the secret corners of my heart.

Friday - Shopping Day: O God, give me the grace to shop wisely so I may purchase eternal happiness for myself and all others in need of love.

Saturday - Cooking Day: Help me, my Savior, to brew a big kettle of brotherly love and serve it with clean, sweet bread of human kindness.

Sunday - The Lord’s Day: O God, I have prepared my house for you. Please come into my heart as my honored guest

- Author unknown

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The unity of the Body of Christ is a precious thing, something Jesus prayed for, and we are called to protect it. But how do we do that? Let me suggest a few things that you and I can do to protect and even enhance our unity as a body, and keep the body of Christ strong.

First, we need to be particularly aware of the power of our words, and use our words to build one another up, instead of tearing each other down. Encouragement is an essential vitamin in the health of the body of Christ, and each of us is responsible for making sure that we all get our recommended daily allowance. It says in the New Testament book of Hebrews, “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

I believe in the 10 to 1 rule in the body of Christ. For every critical thing we need to lovingly say to one another, we need to say 10 affirming things. That’s a good rule for home, work and church. Who can you encourage this week? Who can you thank? Who can you praise? Who can you write a note to that says, “I think you’re the best.”

Second, practice the art of forgiveness. We must exercise radical grace with one another in the body of Christ. The goal of community is not a lack of conflict. We can’t live in community and not have conflict. Where two or more are gathered, toes will be stepped on, that’s a reality of life together. The question is not whether there will be conflict in the body. The question is how we will live with one another in the midst of conflict.

If you’ve offended someone, confess your sin and ask for their forgiveness. If you’ve been offended by someone and are holding a grudge, go and make it right today. Make the first move. Die to your pride. Put away your fear. Go with the grace and love of God in your heart and on your lips and seek to make that relationship right.

Finally, to protect the unity we share in Christ we need to regularly get into the Word of God, so that the truth of God’s Word might get into us. In our own personal devotional life and in small group community, we need to allow the truth of God’s Word to transform our minds and conform our wills to his.

During the Last Supper, when Jesus prayed for the unity of his followers, he asked the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.” You see, Satan would love nothing more than to undermine our unity and render us powerless to accomplish God’s mission. Satan would love to have us argue over things that don’t really matter, engage in power struggles and turf wars, squabble over issues of style and not substance. Satan would delight in having us so focused on our own issues that we lose sight of the world around us that continues to die without knowing Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior.

And so, brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to arm ourselves against the enemy, and render him powerless against the unified Body of Christ.

Bringing It Home:
1. What threats to the unity of the Body of Christ can you identify in your own local church? What can you do to protect the unity?
2. If you have a broken relationship with someone in your local church (be honest with yourself and God!!) seek to make it right today. Make the first move.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, forgive me for my part in undermining the unity of your Church by my thoughts, words, and deeds. Help me to do all that I can to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Teach me to use my words to build others up and encourage them, and stay grounded in your Word so that enemy might not find a foothold in my soul. This I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

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The Bible calls us to protect the unity of the Church, but what exactly is Christian unity?

Let’s start with what unity is not. Unity is not the same as conformity. Conformity implies that our unity is based on some outside pressure or our own effort, but the bible says that it is the Holy Spirit who creates our unity. We don’t create it. It’s a gift. So, unity is not conformity. Neither is unity the same as uniformity. Uniformity happens when we all look or act the same. That’s not unity either. Real Christian unity is much deeper and richer and stronger than that.

When the Bible talks about unity it is referring to something living, dynamic. When St. Paul wanted to talk about the unity of the Church he used the image of the human body. We are one body, Paul says, with many parts. Those parts don’t all have the same function, nor do they look alike. The human body lacks uniformity. In fact, it thrives on diversity! And so does the body of Christ. It’s the diversity of our God-given gifts that makes us strong.

Christian unity is a living thing, and it thrives on diversity. But that’s not all. The real key to our unity is that it is grounded in Jesus. There’s unity in the body of Christ because we all belong to Jesus through our baptism. We are one in Christ. And because we’re one in Christ, we share a common mission, a common purpose, a common sense of direction.

When one of our boys was little he joined a soccer team. Have you ever seen little kids play soccer? It’s this little blob of bodies, all dressed in the same shirts, gathered around the same soccer ball, and all their little legs are kicking. Mostly they just kick each other, but occasionally they kick the ball too, but the ball rarely goes far because it can’t get out of the blob of bodies. That’s not unity!

By the end of the soccer season, however, the coach had helped these aspiring soccer players to work as a team. They learned that they had different positions to play, different parts of the field to cover, different tasks to perform. But they all had a single purpose, a single mission – to get the ball into the net. And not just any net, mind you! We learned the hard way that we needed to be clear about which net we were trying to get the ball into! But when all of that came together, unity happened. They became a team, and it was wonderful to watch.

It is also wonderful to watch the Body of Christ work when we choose to live out and protect the unity that we have in Christ. Without unity we cannot effectively accomplish God’s mission. Without unity, we feed the doubts of unbelievers about the reality and power of the Gospel.

Bringing It Home:
1. How can you help to affirm and celebrate the diversity of your local church?
2. How would you articulate the mission or purpose of the Body of Christ? Do you think the majority of your local church would affirm that common direction? I challenge you to poll some of the members to find out, and don’t just ask the people you know!

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, you paid a great price to form us into one body, the Body of Christ. We thank you for the incredible diversity in the Body and for the strength that our diversity brings. Keep us grounded in the truth of your word, and keep our eyes focused on our common mission. Together we can do so much more for your Kingdom than we ever could alone. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

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