wisdom for the day

Some days I speak out against denominationalism. I am not against people that belong to certain faiths or groups. I simply see everyone as family. I believe that we should all work together. It's really that simple.

Jesus says that divisions are a work of the flesh, and I simply see our denominations as barriers for us getting to know and love one another the way that we should. We argue way too much over things that seem petty. We try to change people's minds by arguing. Jesus said that stirring up strife is pointless. The other day I read a quote that made perfect sense.

“The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it” d.l. moody

this quote tells me that ... If we want to make a point about something, then we don't argue about it.. we live our lives with integrity and we stand upright. Then, others are able to recognize the example. there is no point or fruit in condemnation.

the wonderful thing about Jesus is that He led by example. His actions backed his words. He told us to love another, and yet it seems that we always find a reason to push others aside. We divide and a house divided against itself cannot stand. 

The other day I was watching a movie and I saw something in my spirit. The Bible tells us that we can learn a lot by watching nature. Solomon, one of the wisest men in the Old Testament bids, "consider the ants." He learned a lot by watching tiny little creatures, working together.

anyhow, I was watching this movie and a biology teacher begins to explain the nature of cells in the human body.

He said that cells in our body die. When cells die, the body becomes sick. Illness becomes evident, and the result is decay.

But,

he said that when cells work together, amazing things begin to happen. When they move, they form a rhythm. There is unison. As each cell carries the task for which it was designed, we begin to see healing.

The body heals.

Jesus tells us that as Christians we are parts of a body. Each of us has a certain role. He tells us that He is in the Head of the Body (not a man, contrary to what some people may think)

Jesus is the brains behind the operation, we are the parts of the Body, and when we work together, there is healing.

Consider the ants. Consider the cells. Consider the words of Jesus.

and just because someone thinks differently about something, don't toss them aside. lovingly guide them in all of your wisdom.

working together yeilds marvelous results.

I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity…to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that.
Paul McCartney

In union there is strength.
Aesop

It takes two flints to make a fire.
Louisa May Alcott

Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be in the midst of them.. I will be there. - Jesus..
Jesus didn't say where two (insert your denomination here) are gathered....jesus said where there are two BELIeVERS, there He will be..

WHat did Jesus have to say about working together?

^12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
^14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.
^19-24 But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?
^25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
^27-31 You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. You’re familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his “body”:

apostles
prophets
teachers
miracle workers
healers
helpers
organizers
those who pray in tongues.

But it’s obvious by now, isn’t it, that Christ’s church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It’s not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called “important” parts.

But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.