Daily devotion – The Power of the body of Christ the Church
Eph 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, Eph 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
To have a personal relationship with Jesus, then is not an isolating thing but an inclusive one, requiring you to live life with other believers.
While God gave each one of us grace and gifts, we are to use them to serve the Church, Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ..
There is really no place in God’s plan for selfish living; God designed us for sacrificial serving. It’s about the body of Christ and not the individual.
Now you are no longer part of the problem, but you are part of the solution.
1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
The Apostle John teaches us that to be a Christian, is to live in community – not off on some farm somewhere, but in everyday life making our partnership with the body of Christ a significant part of our lives.
So much of what the Apostle John said is boiled down to the irreducible minimum – the most basic, foundational truth.
It’s alarmingly simple: If you claim to be a Christian but don’t act like Jesus at all, you are lying. 1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The most important aspect of any Church relationship is to be touching God’s people through what God gives us – a chance to experience real community.
Because it is much easier to go to Church than to be the Church, and always has been, John wrote to remind Christians that we are all in this together with God!
A relationship with Jesus Christ should revolutionize our friendships and fellowship.