Your Daily Devotional for March 12, 2006

March 12, 2006

 

All for One!

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;”

Philippians 1:27

 

As we look at this passage today, I’d like you to think about your church family and the fellow Christians with which you find yourself surrounded on a regular basis. In this passage, Paul is speaking to the church at Philippi about the kind of spirit that should be present in the church, and I believe the Holy Spirit desires to speak to all of us about the spirit that we, as Christians, should have one with another.

 

In this verse, the Scripture plainly tells us how God intends a body of believers to function. He intends for us to “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Paul was telling this church to strive with consistency. The phrase “one spirit” speaks of a unified offensive. It speaks to the fact that we are to be together in our spirit. Unified by the Holy Spirit, bound together by the Word of God, and marching together as an offensive unit going forward!

 

“One mind” is speaking of the souls and emotions of people. You may disagree on some peripheral things. For instance, you may not like In-N-Out Burger (I feel sorry for you!), or you may do something differently from someone else, but I’m talking about being of one mind in relation to the Scripture. The Word of God is not divided, and when we get into the truth of God’s Word, there comes a similar way of thinking.

 

This was not always the case at Philippi, and it’s not always the case in many churches and among Christians today. In Philippians 4:2, Paul writes, “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.” At this time, two women who were not getting along were disrupting the spirit in the church of Philippi. There was so much contention between these two women that the Apostle Paul mentions their names and asks them specifically to be of one mind! (What a bummer it would have been to be those ladies!)

 

Are you of “one spirit” in your heart towards those that you fellowship with? Do you have “one mind” to move forward for the faith of the Gospel with fellow Christians? There are enough people in this world today who are contentious towards one another. Shouldn’t Christians be different? Although we may not “like” every person we meet, we should do our very best to love them as Christ loves us.

 

Romans 12:17-18 says, “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”

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