"The Tie That Binds................"

Our Bible study class began last night with a reference to “unity” in the Church at large, the body of Christ, splintered as we are into so many different dogmas, nonetheless tied together by the “umbilical cord” of God’s Spirit. My own contribution to such point, in an attempt to perhaps give better image of such reality, was to speak of the fact that, within any individual assembly, the only time we experience being completely one in our existence is when the Holy Ghost overflows in our midst, His presence in the sanctuary effecting a temporary merger. That connection, and that alone, the possibility of knowing it “en masse” albeit we are separated otherwise in many ways, is the scarlet thread hung from Rahab’s window on the wall of Jericho, the bond of who we are in Him. Surely where we, as a small group, less than twenty of us participating in the lesson, went from there would only confirm my suggestion, the subject of whether the “gifts” yet operate in believers today enough to generate several opinions from those there. When a definition for one particular item on Paul’s list in Corinthians was sought, there were two examples put forth with little or no similarity between them and the fellow who had given the first declaring it mattered not, to each their own perception of truth. Then, even though we had already discussed “arrogance” and the necessity of always remembering this part of the Promise is never about the individual being “special”, this same man noted that, because he had been anointed to possess the gift of prophesy, it was now his responsibility, upon entering into any service, to seek out people who needed to hear from God. Seated in the back row, hidden by three fairly new converts in front of me, I shook my head in silence, believing this not the time to air my opposition to his perspective. He has a good heart. Put the two of us in the same room when the Third Person of the Trinity begins to manifest His reality and we’ll both fall down before Him in worship. In the meantime, we each have to allow the other space for his own individual journey. This, too, is a gift from on high if the heart is willing to receive it……