There Are No Jews, No Greeks, etc... part12

So how do I overcome? How do I become enveloped with His spirit and learn what it is to walk as Christ walked, to be Christ’s bride. It all boils down to relationship. What relationship that I want with God matters only to the extent that it will dictate the effort I will put into the relationship. What kind of relationship God wants with me is the important part and He already spells it out throughout the bible. God wants me to be part of His family. He wants me to be the bride of His son, collective with the other members of Christ’s Church, and He wants to call me His daughter. As His family, Jesus is the head, ordained by God, part and parcel of God, part of the holy trinity. This has been His plan since forever. (Ps. 87:5) As His family, I must come together with those God also considers part of His family. I must, Debbie must, Beth must, Roger must, Ron must, Ena must….we must all come together to be a collective “I”, because it is in that bonding I am part of His people, Debbie is part of His people, etc. (Hebrews 10:25) And how do I walk as He walked? In love (John13:24) the only way. In a love so totally alien to our concept of it. In camaraderie (Phil 1:4), in a deeply rooted walk in servitude, no matter what my brother or sister is doing. It really doesn’t matter whether or not they choose to walk in love, only that I do, because my example can change people. It is in realizing that whatever I think is my point of origin, I am a sinner, Debbie is a sinner, Beth is a sinner, etc because there is not anyone who doesn’t do something no matter how paltry against the law. (1 John 3:4) How am I to be cemented and firmed? By staying with those who are blameless, for the most part, and who will not look to be divisive and selfish. God cannot bless those who are looking to please themselves, or to express themselves in a worship service, because that is expression is not about God, it is about how good I look, see what God has made in me. It is a testimony to me, not to God. (Rom 16:17) I am His, as are the rest of His children, not anyone else’s (1 Corinthians 1:10) and divisions cause undo suffering and pain and ultimately loss of focus. I lose focus when I look to divide rather than to bind because I then begin to celebrate my differences and what makes me separate. I become carnal and self-absorbed. (1 Corinthians 3:3) and Paul over and over pleads and preaches to me and all of us for oneness in Him. I need to remember whose I am, and that this is the long haul and that God brought me into His family for a purpose. (1 Corinthians 12:13) As Romans 12:16 says, my attitude should “Be of the same mind, one toward another, mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.” It doesn’t matter to God how far I’ve gone away from Him, just that I have humbly gone to Him and allowed Him to use me. But He knows when I truly love Him, and when I am lip-syncing. When I put my selfish desires first, when I desire something that while it may not be spoken against biblically, when I am driven to get that one thing, I cannot expect God to say, “Of course you can have it”. What is my motive behind any of my requests, whether it is for a new refrigerator for the Church Kitchen, or to be able to successfully to put on a drama after church? What is my motivation? Am I doing this to benefit the congregation? Does it uplift the body? And if it does, if it is sweetness and sugar, while I am in church do I remember my sole purpose for being there, to immerse myself in the Godhead, to become so in tuned to His will that I can go forth the rest of the week and love everyone, my neighbor included? Are there divisions in the body, whether I cause them or not? People use the expression “comfort zone” to mean something other than the box we try to put one another in so that we may uplift one another the way we want them uplifted. Why do we always seek to have people see our way? Why not see things God’s way? Bringing me back to the point, what is God’s way? God surely gave me a free will, enabling me to use my own mind to understand or put two and two together to come up with four. He made me different from Russ, from Debbie, from even my mother, in shape, in physique, in strength, in the very component that makes me who I am. I am who I am. Isn’t that what God told Moses to call Him, the Great I AM? Well, I am, Debbie is, Russ is part of that I AM. There is no conjugation, our individual make-ups come together to form not a We Are but an I Am. We are all part of God, His children, His genetic component. And because of that, we all have an equal opportunity to be cut away should the branch die or be diseased. And all of us have those parts that need pruning each and every minute we walk this earth. We are all different, but we are all parts of the whole, and in God we who are many become the collective “I”. Because of that, each part is necessary and none is less or more important than the other. I am no more or less important that Debbie, than Russ, than Bill, than Gary, than Jane, than Cathy, than Tim. The list is endless. The point is, because there is no difference between another and I, I must be compassionate.