mutzrein said:
Surely it’s not that hard. It is the Spirit of God that brings unity to believers. Why? Because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth and if we all abide in the Truth – then we are ONE in Christ. This does not mean that we all have to agree on every point of doctrine but if we are born of the Spirit then our lives should manifest the fruit of the Spirit. And what is the first fruit? LOVE!
If we don’t have love then we have no part in Christ.
And BTW we don’t love BECAUSE of Christ’s example. We love because we are IN CHRIST. It is our nature to love just as it is the nature of a good tree to bring forth good fruit.
Mutz,
I did NOT offer that we DO what we DO BECAUSE of the example offered by Christ. But we can CERTAINLY benefit in our ability to DISCERN truth in our behavior when we COMPARE it to the EXAMPLE. For HOW else DO we discern that which is rightous from that which is NOT. Or, better YET, why would the example have been offered to BEGIN with? For Christ COULD have come and kept ALL of this a 'secret', without even OFFERING the example if it was NOT a 'teacher'? I witness MANY that are seemingly UTTERLY ignorant of their actions when compared to TRUTH.
I do NOT refer to BEING LED by, but OUR understanding OF. We CANNOT choose to follow in righteousness WITHOUT being LED there. But we CAN recognize the 'righteousness IN' where we are LED. Otherwise there would BE NO written offerings concerning such DISCERNMENT.
I AGREE with what you offered by I think that you only saw a PART of what I offered.
We DO NOT NEED to agree upon that which is TRUTH. It IS simply A PART of those that ARE a 'part of the Body'. But there IS the possibility of unity in understanding that goes BEYOND limited bounds of the FLESH and BECOMES a 'part of US' in Spirit.
While these POINTS that are BEING offered are by NO MEANS a 'guide or RULE BOOK' of understanding, through their offering we ARE able to come to edification in ourselves and in others through a mutual agreement in understanding that which IS 'fruit' of The Spirit.
That we NEED such edification is NOT a 'commandment' in itself, but if CAN NOT HURT for us to COME TOGETHER in an understanding of things pertaining to UNDERSTANDING.
But please understand that when I refer to the EXAMPLE, we CANNOT follow it through our SHEAR WILL. For Satan will surely 'step in' and SHOW us that the FLESH is WAY TOO WEAK to accomplish such a TASK. So it IS the Spirit that is able to conform us TO the example. But we CAN see the transformation when WE are REFLECTED in example.
There MUST be support offered through The Spirit or it would be a benign Spirit indeed. WE ARE ABLE to BE strengthened and supported BY that which is offered Through Spirit IN righteous edification. God would NOT leave us GUESSING as to whether our lives are spent in AGREMENT with The Spirit or doing that which is CONTRADICTORY to It. Our biggest obsticle in this respect is preventing PRIDE from raising it's ugly head and removing the TRUE LOVE and replacing it with 'self service'.
Blessings, my brother
MEC
