Life as a Christian Woman

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:3

When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, he was shackled and in chains. But through his pain and captivity, he wrote a compelling letter that is one of the lights of the New Testament.

The fourth chapter of Ephesians has a lesson that is so appropriate for Christians today. We are all part of one body, the body of Christ. We are the church… not the buildings and grounds, not the staff, us. And we have to find a way to get along, to work as one.

That doesn’t mean that we have to agree on everything, in fact we most assuredly won’t. But we can’t expect to bicker, gossip, demean and criticize each other, and still be within God’s will.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it…

…It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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.

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 men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it’s work.

Ephesians 4: 1-6, 11-16.

These verses speak to our calling as one body of Christ. In Heaven we will not be Catholic, Jew, Pentecostal, Baptist, whatever. We will be saved members of the body of Christ, bought with his blood.

Paul goes on to speak of the preparation that we must go through, to grow into the mature spiritual beings that he wants us to be. Once we reach that level of maturity within the Spirit, we will see through the charlatans, the snake oil salesmen who have a great pitch, but are void of the real message.

I especially love the final verses, where Paul draws the correlation between the body of Christ and the human body. Every part of the body has it’s job, reliant on others yet working independently.  Can you imagine if your arms fought over their role within you? Or your left leg wanted to go one way, while your right leg chose the opposite direction?

We must strive for unity. Without unity, we can’t advance Christ’s agenda, and that must remain our goal.