“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.”
Ephesians 4:3-4
Paul continues with his expectations for the Ephesian believers. He’s already asked them to live a life worthy of their calling- a life of grace, and in so doing, extend that same grace to other believers when they are at fault, thus show love and God’s love to them! Now he’s expanding that to relationships with other church members in general.
Pual says to “make every effort” to do this! To me, that says to find a way! I know that just like it “takes 2 to tangle”, it also takes 2 to get along, however getting along works much better if 1 of the 2 is humble enough-yes humble because choosing to get along often involves admitting a fault or 2 of your own, and takes the lead in estblishing peace! In other words, to get along in any relationship, you have to CHOOSE to get along! This often means choosing against your own preferences! “Make every effort” to do this, Paul says!
Paul then states the real issue: to “keep yourselves united in the Spirit”. So his admonishment to “make every effort” goes way beyond allowing another person’s preferences to overshadow yours, he’s actually talking about our relationship with Holy Spirit! You see if you’re living in unity with Holy Spirit and I’m doing the same, we will have unity between us because the same Holy Spirit is at work in both of us and He cannot be divided Himself! Each of our living in unity with Him, produces this unity between us because He’s not in disunity with Himself!
Paul actually states this concept in verse 4! “For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.”
One body=a unified Church
One Spirit=God in unity with Himself (He’s not schizophrenic)
One glorious hope=all of our hope or aspirations as members of God’s Holy Church will be the same as should all of the different churches that compile the Church-Christ’s Body
One glorious hope for the future=all of us heading in the same direction!
So, to conclude, to be united as individual members of Christ’s Body, all of us must must be united with the same Spirit of God, Who inhabits all of us! He’s the same yesterday, today and forever! (Heb 13:8)
Think about it!
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