Many parts but one Spirit

 

Hebrews 13:3-6

Have you ever stopped to ponder the magnificent Body of Christ; the church, how it has many parts but one Spirit, one hope, and one Lord.  As I read verse three, my mind went to men like John Anderson and Ken Ryan, men who have been used of God to mold me, and both of these men have for many years been involved in prison ministry, and yet I’ve never had that calling on my life.  But each of us should pray for such men and women who God has called to this ministry, and all of us should be champions for and to the mistreated, since we also are part of the body.

When it comes to marriage, we are to honor it, all of us, and yet today the divorce rate in and out of the church is running at about 50%.  If God tells the truth, and He does, then verse 4 explains much of the heartbreak, and the chaos in the family.  More than 50 % of our children do not have a dad in the home, and we wonder why our culture is in such a mess.  Verse four; “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”  But no longer do we have adulterous behavior, we are so much smarter than that, we changed the word to fool God, now it is just an affair, but I’ve got some bad news, God is not fooled, and the sad fact is we are the fools, we have been taken captive by the enemy of our soul.  This is no different than the forbidden fruit that Eve was tempted with, and we know that God kept his promises.

Verse five is also an area that most Christians are living in opposition to the commands of Scripture; “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Now that is a battleground each of us should understand, our world system is centered on money.  The love of or for money has little to do with how much or how little of it you have, it’s centered on a false concept that if we had more then we would be happy.  Money or possessions is not bad, but they easily become idols, and God will not allow that in a Christian’s life.  If only we acted like God tells the truth, then and only then, would we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice