Approaching God
As you enter God’s presence once more, be assured of your salvation. With so many competing denominations and worldviews, we can become anxious when we consider our eternal destiny. God has given us the confidence we need to approach Him in His Word.
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
Listening to God
While the Reformation is a great cause for celebration, one of the faults we Reformed Christians often find ourselves guilty of is finding our bonds of unity in places other than Christ. We are united because we have Christ, plain and simple. The apostle Paul tells us this much.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
God wants you to know that before you are Reformed or not, male or female, Christian schooled or public schooled, black or white—you are in Christ. We must never lose sight of that!
Talking to God
Christ did not make one set of His children more important than another. God shows no favoritism; we are all one under Christ. Have you experienced the blessing of this oneness? Are there any words of praise or blessing that come to mind? Have you treated brothers and sisters in Christ with favoritism? Any instances where you’ve abandoned unity that you need to repent of?
Responding to God
Since you are one in Christ with your brothers and sisters in the faith, seek to find even more unity. While we were enemies with God, He still sought unity with us. Just as Christ did, seek unity with someone today who you may not usually try and seek unity with. Show that you are one with every brother and sister in Christ and experience the blessing of unity under Christ.
Surrendering to God
“God, too often I forget that each person who declares Jesus Christ is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead has the same standing before God. Too often I take comfort in how I am different from my brothers and sisters in faith. Strengthen me, O God, to rejoice in the bonds of unity I share with my brothers and sisters in the faith by your blood alone.”
By Arek O’Connell
A HISTORICAL SIDEBAR
Reflecting on the “catholicity” (universal nature) of the church during his time, the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck wrote in 1888: “No one church, no matter how pure, is identical with the universal church. In the same way no confession, no matter how refined by the Word of God, is identical with the whole of Christian truth. Each sect that considers its own circle as the only church of Christ and makes exclusive claims to truth will wither and die like a branch severed from its vine. The one, holy, universal church that is presently an object of faith, will not come into being until the body of Christ reaches full maturity. Only then will the church achieve the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, and only then will she know as she is known.”
