Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. - Ephesians 2:16
If the wall of hostility has indeed been broken down by the death of Christ (Ephesians 2:13-14), why then do so many people inside the kingdom still meet a stone wall where true fellowship is concerned? Why does the wall still divide black and white, rich and poor, those with social status and those without? I believe it is because Christians have not been taught that the basis of their unity is “belonging.”
Unity begins when we get our theology straight. If the wall has been broken down and yet the wall is still there, it is because someone has been building it up again! What is a wall? It’s a barrier—something that includes others and excludes you. We sense it, though it be unseen, between people inside the church. We see different factions with religious and personal differences. Yet our unity is in belonging. For through him we all have access by one Spirit to the Father. He sees all of us kneeling down at our bedsides at the end of the day!
I must not be a builder of walls. I must lay down my trowel and use my hands rather to reach out to my brother and sister in love. I need to keep acting as if the barrier isn’t there; I need to walk through it and speak into years of silence. I must write another letter and extend another dinner invitation. I must do what I can to make sure others know I believe in belonging!
For Further Study: Ephesians 2:11-22
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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