We Are One

“NOW ALL OF YOU TOGETHER ARE CHRIST’S BODY, AND EACH ONE OF YOU IS SEPARATE AND NECESSARY PART OF IT.” 1 CORINTHIANS 12:27

John Donne (1572-1631) wrote those famous words, “NO MAN IS AN ISLAND, ENTIRE OF ITSELF”. It was from a collection of devotions and meditations. The thought was not new; it is integral to the message of the Kingdom of God which Christ and His Disciples preached.
Beloved, you are created to embody the Great Commandment and the Great Commission; “AND YOU MUST LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEAR, ALL YOUR SOUL, ALL YOUR MIND, AND ALL YOUR STRENTH AND YOU MUST LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF” MARK 12:30,31 Such love will compel you to live the great commission; “GO YE UNTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO ALL CREATION” MARK 16:15

If indeed we believe the words of Christ; that we are all together Christ’s body, when we tear ourselves from one another, do we not tear His body apart? If we allow emotions to drive us from our brothers and sisters in Christ, do we not tear His flesh anew? Each one of us are created separate and necessary part of it; how then can we allow anything to be more important than living the supreme love of Christ? Christian, if you cannot love your brother or sister who has in common with you the merciful redemption of our Christ, how will you ever love the darkened soul of one who has yet to meet Him?

If such love is not enough to bridge ideologies, and teachings and habits and traditions and customs and preferences, denomination or title or position; if the need of Christian Community is not greater than to selfish desire of entertainment, enlightenment or individuality, personal space or comfort, does the love of Christ who suffered and died for us all live in you at all?I understand the ackwardness that is integral to human disagreement, but how do we as Christians allow such ackwardness to become greater than the command of Christ that we love one another? When my comfort, my emotions, my individuality or my desires become paramount to the kinship of the body of Christ, I have ripped His flesh to bow at an altar where I worship self. It is written; “ABOVE ALL, KEEP FERVENT IN YOUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, BECAUSE LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS.” 1 PETER 4:8 May God have mercy upon us all.

What is it that is more important than fulfilling the command and commission of God with your life? How is it again that you have “won” the disagreement if you separate yourself from whom you were created to be?

Consider the whole devotion of Donne;

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." AMEN!

P.S. "FRIENDSHIP IS A SACRED TRUST WHEN BROKEN IT OFFENDS BOTH GOD AND MAN." Pastor Gary Holman