Friday Family Devo: LET’S BE UNITED IN CHRIST!

Read the text and briefly discuss it together. Some discussion-starter questions are provided. Then read the closing text as a guide to your family prayer and finish by praying together and singing a hymn.

There’s an old saying attributed to the minister, John Wesley (1703–1791), “ In matters of faith, unity. In matters of opinion, liberty. In all things, charity.” That may be a little hard for some of our littlest ones to understand, so let’s say it this way instead: “In things the Bible commands, we should all agree. In things, we just think on our own; everyone can have their own ideas. And in everything, we should always be loving."

I've heard this a lot over the years in sermons and Bible classes and have come across it in my readings. Even though these words aren't in the Bible, word for word, anywhere, they are biblical ideals. The Bible says we should all agree about the Lord’s commandments. It also says we can have different opinions about things He hasn’t required. The Bible does indeed command us to do everything with love (1 Cor 16:14). The saying is just a way to collect all three of these truths that are so important to Christian unity in a form that we can remember easily. John 17 and 1 Corinthians 1:10 clearly teach us that all Christians should be in unity and believe the same things about God’s commands, but sometimes we don't do a great job at it. Jesus never said it would be easy, but He did say we have to make this a very important goal.

If we will all live by these biblical ideals it will help us stay together as friends and believers in Christ. But if we forget one or more of them, that's when we’ll start arguing and splitting apart. Right now, there are a lot of disagreements between churches across the globe. Can we fix it? Yes, we can, if we will all pray to God and ask Him to help us, we can, at least most of us, come back together again someday, hopefully someday soon. 

Discuss:

• Think about something you believe strongly in and something you just have an opinion about. How do you decide which is which? Can you share an example from your life where you agreed to disagree with someone and stay friends?

• Imagine you and your friend disagree on how to play a game. How can you still show love and kindness to your friend even though you see the game differently? What are some ways we can practice this in school or at home?"

This week, we learned about the importance of everyone agreeing about God’s commandments, letting each other disagree peacefully about our opinions, and doing everything we do with love. Let’s say a special prayer this week for the Lord to restore our Christian unity all over the world, and to help us never to be the cause of division. 

—JLP


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