Unity

As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting (Acts 9:3-5).

  

The way we treat other members of the body of Christ is the way we treat Jesus Himself. This is quite a statement. If I’m angry and resentful towards a fellow believer, I’m that way towards Jesus! The way I treat my wife Susan is the way I’m treating Jesus!

   

If we want the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, we must treat other members of the body of Christ with the same respect we would give to Jesus Himself.

In the book of Acts it seems that the Holy Spirit manifested freely as the believers worked together in unity (Acts 1:14; 2:1; 2:46; 4:32; 5:12)

   

According to Jesus, when we see the stranger and give him shelter, when we go minister to the sick person, or the person in prison, we are ministering to Jesus Himself (see Matthew 25).

   

We create an environment that either attracts or detracts from the presence of God by what we do with our attitudes, words, and actions towards fellow believers.

  

Be careful today with how you treat others. It will directly affect your relationship with the Lord! If we say we love Jesus, and pay no attention to others needs, how can we really say we love Him?

  

Our age is quickly becoming numb and loveless. This is our time to shine! Treat others the way you want to be treated. Pray for those you come in contact with daily. Ask the Lord to make you a blessing to them. Ask Him what you can do to show care and compassion to them.

  

If I don’t care for the person I can see, there’s no way I can really love the God I can’t see (1 John 4:20).

    

Let’s be sensitive to others today.  What we do to them, the attitudes we portray, and what we say to them or about them to others is how we’re treating the Lord Jesus!