LIFE IS FAR SWEETER TOGETHER
1 Corinthians 12:12-14
There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13 We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. 14 So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.
All fall I have wanted to make apple cider. The apple trees in our area were hanging with fruit and I longed for the sweet flavor of fresh apple cider.
My friends orchard has 6 or different types of apple trees (delicious, Macintosh, Greening and many others) and individually they are good… but combine the pressed juices and it is so much better. the orchard is loaded with apples … and deer. Sometimes you have to chase the deer out to get to the apples.
One evening a few years ago three of us worked together to sort out the bruised and spoiled apples then to cut, grind and press the apples into cider. An hour and 15 gallons later we had enough to last us deep into the winter and extra to share with friends. It was a great time and the end result was worth the effort.
What a great example of the family of God, when we work together, the work is easier and the rewards are sweet.
First of all, if any one of us had attempted to convert that many apples into cider by ourselves, it would have been an all day job. When each person did their job and worked together, it went quickly and smoothly… with sweet rewards. What really struck me was the way that mixing flavors of different apples gave a taste that far surpassed the flavor of cider from just one apple.
The Christian family, within the church (both the local individual bodies and the Big Church of God’s family) is the same thing…. Unless we allow and welcome others that serve together to the glory of God we will miss out on the sweet fellowship of His family. Each person brings something else to the table in God’s family, a different flavor as it were. When mixed together in fellowship and worship, it becomes something beautiful!
Realizing that there are “rotten apples” in life, those that come into the family with the purposes of dividing and spoiling the flavor of the mix… these have to be set aside or it can destroy the flavor, just like in cider making. There is a common bond in this family. That is Jesus Christ and what He did for each of us. If we allow something in that attempts to undermine or destroy that, the sweetness of fellowship is gone.
When we accept each other in the family of God and work together for His purposes, we become a sweet fragrance (a flavor) to Him. Like the cider, when mixed together, we become something very special.
Ephesians 2:19-22
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Being part of a local body of Christians is a sweet thing. If you are not part of that kind of a family, find a sound church with strong men and women who are teaching and preaching a gospel message.
Life is far sweeter together.
Click the button to sign up for Dean’s Daily Devotional. FREE and delivered daily.