The Body of Christ

Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

In these times, Christians and the church are dividing very easily over things that really shouldn’t be issues. In all honesty, it’s extremely easy to be judgmental and tear one another down. Why do we go there? This generation walks away from relationships the moment things get hard. What if we stuck around and worked through our problems? Just imagine how many marriages would survive against the ever-increasing divorce rate. Imagine how much stronger families would be, creating a solid foundation in Christ. Imagine the kind of testimony the church could have; a merciful, grace-giving testimony.

When we become born-again believers in Jesus, we enter into the body of Christ. We represent our Creator in everything we do: our actions, our words, and our lifestyle. We should be the ones to set the example. If non-believers look at us and can’t see anything different about us, then we’re doing it wrong. God gave grace to us when we absolutely did not deserve it, so why can’t we extend that grace to others? We should be edifying each other, not tearing each other down. I challenge you to mercifully extend grace. Love without conditions. Build each other up in love.

People are watching. Let them see Jesus.

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