V 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Ephesians 2:21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Same thought as yesterday! Our background, culture, status in society and all other barriers that might separate us, count for nothing in this unique and unifying relationship that we have with the Three-in-One God. The Father loves us, the Son rescues us and stands alongside us, and the Spirit is God-within-us right now, building us into ‘part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.’
But there is only one God! This oneness and unity that we see in the Trinity is to be reflected in the Church. When Jesus taught the disciples to pray he began his model prayer ‘Our Father … ‘ Even the practise of prayer which we regard as intensely personal is a corporate venture – God is our Father.
We can only be authentic Christians as we share our lives with the rest of the Body of Christ.
In a nutshell, to love God is to love and be part of the Body of Christ. And that means the old ‘I’ centred life has to die!