Unity in Love
Prayer
Heavenly Father, Most High God, I want to thank you for creating us, the cosmos, and for authoring our lives. I thank you for giving us breath, opening our eyes, and for your mercies that are new every morning. Thank you so much for your love!!! You showed us how we are to love each other—with the ultimate expression of love being the cross. I pray that our hearts be crafted into the same sacrificial heart that Jesus had, so that we may love others the same way that he loved us. To God belongs all the praise, honor, and glory!
Focus
Unity through love in the body of Christ.
Devotion
*This devo is going to be a short one today because there is so much I want to say! (Which doesn’t make sense.) I enjoy details, and in this devo, I’d like to give thanks for every detail in the body of Christ, but then I would have written to the moon and back. So, instead, I’m going to keep what I have to say short and broad to encapsulate as much as I can. Thank you, and I love you all!
You. Yes, you. You who greeted me when I went to my first Sunday gathering. You who smiled at me when I didn’t know anyone. You who hugged me when I felt awkward. You who asked me my name. You who asked me my story. You who invited me to coffee. You who made space to ask me about myself. You who made me feel loved, accepted, and part of the body of Christ.
I would love to take the time to thank everyone in the body of Christ for all the things they do, but that would take eons!! In the paragraph above I was just thinking about my first time at All City. There was so much love on that first day, not just coming at me, but all around me. People loving each other. People loving their neighbor. People loving strangers. It. Was. Amazing!
All of that love I witnessed played a role in moving me to call All City my home.
What stuck out to me from today's message was unity.
Before Jesus was arrested, he prayed for all of us to be “one” so that the world may see that the Father sent him (John 17:20-21). We may be living, breathing, walking, lights of the world when we reflect Christ as individuals, but it’s also when we are unified that our community reflects the body of Christ and bears witness to who he is as well.
Also, when you think about it, being unified does more than just show the world that believers can be friendly towards one another, and point people to Jesus. Yes, this is great. This friendliness makes people feel safe, loved, and accepted for who they are and we’re called to point people to Jesus. But, this unity is also a reflection of the nature of God!
God is a community within himself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is perfect unity and flawless community. Within him, there is no darkness, lie, or evil, instead, he is pure light, pure truth, and purely good. God, also, at his core, is love (1 John 4:8). Which means that when we come together in love we reflect the core of who God is.
When we love, we reveal the unity of God above and the unity of God within us.
Yes, you. You who are part of the body of Christ and shine like nobody else could but you! Whether it’s offering a smile, offering silence, offering space to listen, offering advice and knowing when advice is not necessary, giving a hug, adding a squeeze to your hug, or any of the things you do as an image of God—thank you! I ask that Christ and love be your inspiration, motivation, and aspiration in everything you do!
You. Yes, you. You who greeted me when I went to my first Sunday gathering. You who smiled at me when I didn’t know anyone. You who hugged me when I felt awkward. You who asked me my name. You who asked me my story. You who invited me to coffee. You who made space to ask me about myself. You who made me feel loved, accepted, and part of the body of Christ.
I would love to take the time to thank everyone in the body of Christ for all the things they do, but that would take eons!! In the paragraph above I was just thinking about my first time at All City. There was so much love on that first day, not just coming at me, but all around me. People loving each other. People loving their neighbor. People loving strangers. It. Was. Amazing!
All of that love I witnessed played a role in moving me to call All City my home.
What stuck out to me from today's message was unity.
Before Jesus was arrested, he prayed for all of us to be “one” so that the world may see that the Father sent him (John 17:20-21). We may be living, breathing, walking, lights of the world when we reflect Christ as individuals, but it’s also when we are unified that our community reflects the body of Christ and bears witness to who he is as well.
Also, when you think about it, being unified does more than just show the world that believers can be friendly towards one another, and point people to Jesus. Yes, this is great. This friendliness makes people feel safe, loved, and accepted for who they are and we’re called to point people to Jesus. But, this unity is also a reflection of the nature of God!
God is a community within himself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is perfect unity and flawless community. Within him, there is no darkness, lie, or evil, instead, he is pure light, pure truth, and purely good. God, also, at his core, is love (1 John 4:8). Which means that when we come together in love we reflect the core of who God is.
When we love, we reveal the unity of God above and the unity of God within us.
Yes, you. You who are part of the body of Christ and shine like nobody else could but you! Whether it’s offering a smile, offering silence, offering space to listen, offering advice and knowing when advice is not necessary, giving a hug, adding a squeeze to your hug, or any of the things you do as an image of God—thank you! I ask that Christ and love be your inspiration, motivation, and aspiration in everything you do!
Closing Prayer
Jesus, thank you! Thank you for knitting together such a diverse family! Thank you. As we continue to journey with you and you add more members to our family, I ask that those new members find a place where they can feel loved and learn how to love others. I pray that we find unity within love, and that love be the notable attribute about us because when we love we not only point people to you, but we reveal the nature of God—which in turn points people to you! Thank you for everything that you’ve done, are doing, and will do!
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