Understanding that in Christ, we are united together as one body and one temple.
In an individualistic context, my connection to others is almost accidental. If I meet you and if we like each other and if we see value in a relationship, then it will continue as long as it is of mutual benefit. Relationships are transient and occasional and ultimately oriented to each individual's needs and wants.
This is lonely, sad, and isolating. It is fragile, weak, and incoherent.
We all bear God's image. It is heartbreaking to see how we divide ourselves. But especially in the salvation that Christ has provided, we are now one, united together.
Consider the metaphors. In Romans 12, "we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." Take stock of that. What would it mean to see other Christians as part of Christ's body?
Or consider the analogy in 1 Corinthians 3. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." The you is plural. As Southerners translate the Bible: "Y'all"!
Think about how important and central the Temple was to the worship of God's people.
But as one commentator writes, "In the era of the new covenant, however, this temple has been replaced by something new that God himself created, namely, the new people of God composed of those who believe in Jesus."
Why were the New Testament authors so emphatic about this? Perhaps there are many reasons, but one reason is that Jesus was emphatic about this.
In John 17, we have a prayer of his:
"The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."
The theologian Robert Mounce writes, "Unity in the church will not come as a result of committees assigned to the task but by a renewal of personal fellowship with the Lord so profound as to be comparable to the union between the Father and the Son."
Our disconnection from other image-bearers is one of the greatest tragedies of the Fall. It is amplified, perhaps, in an individualistic society.
But in Christ, we are made one.
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
In what ways have you experienced the loneliness and isolation that can result from an individualistic approach to relationships? How has this affected you and your relationships with other believers?
How might viewing other Christians as part of Christ's body or as God's temple change the way you interact with and value them?
What's one relationship with a brother or sister in Christ that you could take steps to heal?
Identify one relationship with a fellow believer that needs attention. Take a step this week to strengthen that bond.
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