The Jesus Prayer

Recently our granddaughter returned from her 4^th year in SLU (Student Leadership University). When asked what one thing she took away from her week she gave this reply “May I walk so others see Christ in me and because of my walk they desire to follow Christ as I did.” Humbled and silenced. Is this our desire as well? As Paul closes out his letter to the Roman church in chapter 15, he offers once again this advice: be a people lover not a people pleaser through giving these precious Jewish/Gentile believers eight guidelines.

1. Those who are strong in the faith bear the burdens of the weak in the faith
2. Please others before we please ourselves following the example of Christ
3.  Know the OT which was written for our instruction
4. Be unified with one another
5. Receive one another just as Christ received you
6. Walk according to love
7. Be a servant as Christ was
8. Glorify and Praise God for His mercy

True unity demands sensitivity to one another. The world is watching and it desires peace and harmony; if there is one place they should find it; it is in the church. There they should see it in us and so desire to seek that same unified spirit. This can happen only in and through Christ. It might be good to look at two other passages as we strive for this goal.

The “Be-Attitude”: Matt 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.”

The Jesus Prayer: John 17:21 “that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.”

Can we truly say that we are people lovers? It will show in our attitude, our actions, our prayers. Can we say that we desire that others see Christ in me and because of my love for others, my desire for unity that they will also seek to follow Christ? Is this our prayer today?

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Believers are God’s Tapestry [Eph 4]

Tapestry; what a beautiful word to describe the body of Christ, His church. A tapestry is a form of textile art, imitating paintings, which is woven so that there are two sets of interlaced threads, the warp which runs parallel to the length and the weft which is passed back and forth across all parts of the warps.  A tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike cloth weaving where both the warp and the weft threads may be visible.

We as Christ’s church are a tapestry, being woven together uniquely. We are the weft of beautiful colors which make up a glorious representation which is on exhibit to the principalities and authorities in the heavenly realm as well as here on earth. And just as a tapestry utilizes many colors, many strands of threads to complete this “painting” so it takes many believers in Christ to be the strands, the threads,  used by the Holy Spirit to weave together Christ’s church. Thus, Paul charges the Ephesians and us in turn to be a weft thread by demonstrating the gifts of humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.

When you work on a tapestry you must have adequate light. The Holy Spirit is our light which illumines our understanding and allows us to see each thread for its color and beauty. If we work in the dark we are unable to see our design, the colors, the next warp to go under. So too when we are not in unity in the Body, Paul says we give the devil an opportunity and thus mar the tapestry being woven. Therefore, “he turns from exposition to exhortation, from what God has done (in the indicative), to what we must be and do (in the imperative), from doctrine to duty . . . from mind-stretching theology to its down-to-earth, concrete implications in everyday living” [Stott].

Speak truth, be angry and sin not and in fact do not let the sun go down upon your anger! Put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling and evil, slanderous talk. Instead, weave the threads of kindness one to another, compassionate, forgiving one another, Just as Christ also forgave you. Thus, “Christians must preserve the unity between believers that God has created in the church.”[Constable]

As a believer in Christ you are a weft thread.  Precious ones, let the Holy Spirit illumine your weaving so you are a glorious and beautiful tapestry for the entire world and those in the heavenly realms to see!