Isn’t it beautiful to be reminded and to be prompted by the Holy Spirit to set our eyes and hearts on what matters most before the Lord? Recently, I was praying in my office, where I have a world map. As I prayed for the various nations of the world, I was reminded of a picture the Lord allowed me to see some time ago.
I saw a beautiful cord being constructed from strands of many different colors. The various strands were being braided together, but the individual strands never lost their distinctness.
I saw that cord as a prophetic picture of how God sees our church: It is stronger and more powerful by being united with its various members and by aligning itself with God and His Word. As Eccles. 4:12 states, “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (NKJV).
Acts 2 tells us that some interesting things happened when the church was “in one accord” (Acts 2:2-4, 46-47). The Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers who were assembled in Jerusalem, an event that we call Pentecost. And the Lord continued to add new believers to the church.
Our being in one accord and in the unity of His Spirit will require that we see beyond ourselves. It will require that we defer to one another. We must get past our default setting of expecting everyone to change to become like we are.
We must embrace the beauty of diversity that coexists with the unity of the Spirit within the body of Christ. Paul exhorted believers to “receive one another” as they had been received in Christ (Rom. 15:7, NKJV).
Each city, each village, each nation, each people group uniquely reflects God’s glory—and each has a unique contribution to make to the body of Christ. I am moved by the concern that Paul voiced for first century believers: “I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ” (Col. 2:2, HCSB).
I pray that The Foursquare Church will go forward in strength and unity to do its part to fulfill the Great Commission.
