Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today- I see that I can separate quickly based on disagreement, whereas God calls me to harmony.
Romans 15:5 NLT
[5] May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.
Observation
Harmony, oneness, unity, are all reflective of the character of God. Complete harmony exists within God himself, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. This is the redemptive work of God among us, restoring His divine nature, divine image in us. Wherever there is oneness you are seeing the presence and work of God, whether recognised or not.
We have all seen the devastation that is caused by divisiveness, by judgments, by the creation of the in-class and the out-class. The church has created its denomination divides through an inability to live in harmony when we see and interpret scripture through different views. Imagine God’s word used to work against God’s word and character! Disagreement without patience and a commitment to harmony always leads to dividing, then divide leads to the judgment of those who don’t hold my truth.
The world sees God when we behave like him. Heaven invades earth when we are the conduit of its expression. Faith becomes liveable when we stop holding one belief as the reason for not living another. Now the patience and encouragement to live in harmony do not come by self-determined effort, it comes as I spend time in the presence of God and experience the beauty of His harmony. I then reflect the beauty I have experienced into the world. We don’t live by faith that is understood as a belief system. Faith in what God says is the invitation into His presence to experience what he has revealed and inspired me with so that from the empowerment of my experienced I reflect Him in exercised faith that brings heaven to earth.
Application
When I feel the seat of judgment lure me to live from its corruption, I will return to the simple faith of harmony. I resign my membership to being ‘right’ at the exclusion and judgment of others. Harmony will trump my puny “I have the truth” mantras. I will live in the intimacy of the harmony of God himself that I may reflect the beauty of heaven on earth.
Response
Thank you that you call me away from the systems and stories that divide and into the beauty of harmony. Thank you that you enable me to live in the way you have called. I love that you are always leading me into a fuller life. I am blessed.
Meditation
Meditation truth – God gives me the patience and encouragement to live in harmony.
Consider:
Where in my life, who in my life, do I experience conflict and divisiveness? What lies at the root of this?
How precious is harmony to you?
JOURNEY DEEPER