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Friday, April 18, 2014

A House of Unity

Lately I've been more and more filled with praise to God for the blessing of my family.

Psalm 127:3-5 "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!"

We are a family of nine sharing a little house and abundant lives. Our "quiver" is full! I love this life!

What I think is amazing is the fact that we have nine different personalities, nine different senses of humor, nine different temperaments and nine different wills, yet we're all able to live and work together daily in so much joy and unity with each other that the size of our family is not a burden nor a hardship. I give glory to God for this gift, because I know that the reason there is harmony in our home is because HIS will presides over each of our hearts.

God has given us instructions on how we are to live with each other. Unity is a prized blessing for the church. But often unity is a difficult thing to grasp, whether it is in the home or the church. What we've learned in our home is that there can be joy in submission to each other according to the rolls each family member has.

God has set in place different rolls and responsibilities of each member of the body of Christ both in the home and in the church. The varying gifts and callings of the children of God are given for His glory. And when each person plays his roll and uses his gifts in humility to serve the body, the striving and the contending will diminish and harmony will be something that is easily attained. But when there is a lack of submission there always will be a lack of unity.

Those of you who have been blessed with children probably (and hopefully) understand the concepts of authority, discipline and submission very well. A child can not rule the home...unless pandemonium, strife and chaos are readily acceptable. That is why appropriate and timely discipline is commanded, yet always with a view to grace and mercy. That is also why rolls of authority and responsibility are to be undertaken with great seriousness.

Parents are responsible not only for loving their children but also for modeling and teaching in matters of faith, holiness and humility as well as academics and life skills. When parents stop at love and fail to undertake the rest of the responsibilities of raising a child, the harmony of the home becomes a figment of the imagination, a mere longing of the heart that seems to good to be true. And the gifts of unity and peace in the home are lost.

The same is true for the church. Responsibility and submission to our calling and position is a must for unity to be had. But like in our home, where no one is made to feel inferior to anyone else and everyone is treasured for who they are and the gifts they have, we recognize that there are still different rolls to be played and submission to each other in humility is a daily calling.

Where there is unity there is great joy. It is a blessing of much worth in the eyes of God.

Ephesians 5:21 "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."

Philippians 2:3 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves."

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