So if you’ve read my prior devotional, you will recall my rough description of all the components that need to come
together to make our now-regularly scheduled Sunday morning livestream. When all the technical parts are set up
correctly and working together, you see and hear God’s Word coming through. But if there is a misconnection of
equipment or two tech pieces aren’t communicating properly, well, the end result is not as good.
Perhaps you’ve seen the end result when all the parts don’t work together. It’s a video with no sound, sound but no video, or just a big blank screen. It’s VERY obvious when something isn’t working.
2020 was a year that tried to divide, separate, and destroy the Body of Christ. Racial tensions, political tensions, Covid
tensions, and divisiveness all around. But as Christians and true followers of Christ, we cannot give into this pressure to divide and hurt one another. That’s not what Christ did when he walked this earth. And that is not Him at work now. We need to be perfectly aware that what divides us and seeks to tear us apart is not the work of Christ, it is the work of the Devil. And Satan has had some pretty easy work pitting us against each other this past year.
Instead, we need to unite first as believers, if we want to bring peace and the rest of the world to Christ. Regardless of our opinions, affiliations and just straight up differences, we are all equal in Christ. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. And if we truly want to show Christ and His love to the rest of this world, it starts right here with us and how we interact with those around us. Because when we are connected and work together, God’s message is broadcast clearly and streamed to all those around us. When we don’t, it is very obvious that something isn’t working.
I’d like to say that I was not one of those adding to the divisiveness of 2020. But I don’t think that is true. I can say that God has been working on me in this area and I hope to be a better example of His love and grace in 2021. Ephesians 4 has crossed my path a few times in the last couple months and I can’t help but think how true those words are for us (me
included) today. I’d invite you to read through it as well and pray for God to grant you patience, grace, and His calming spirit to guide you through the rest of this year.
“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.”
(Ephesians 4:14-16)