Fear: The Enemy of Unity

Dear Prayer Team,

It's been a productive week for RESCUE! Our Christmas music is starting to really come together, and we are completely moved out of the old offices and into the new office at Jason's apartment. We had our moving party on Saturday and we had 10 brave souls helping to pack and move all of the stuff. I just gotta say, after we carried all of the stuff up three flights of stairs and into Jason's extra room, I thought I was going to need a medic! Or at least someone to wheel me around for a while. I am very glad that it is over. It went very well, no one was hurt, and everyone seemed to be in a pretty good mood even though it was a pretty sentimental time.

I noticed that for us to really get anything done, we really had to submit ourselves to the overall plan for the day. Whenever I just started moving stuff around I would have to end up moving it all somewhere else, making twice the work!

In the context of the church you can see why God wants us to abandon our own selfish motives and work together in harmony. We just wouldn't get anything done if we did it our own way!

In Phillipians 2:1-11 Paul talks about trading in our ego-driven desires for unity in the church. What is this fleshly drive for getting our own way based in? I think it's based in fear! Try to follow my logic. From the chicken coop to the African savannah to Wall Street, the nature of things seems to be about making sure you are ahead of the chicken, lion, or businessman that seems to want your spot. What's that all about? Fear that we aren't going to get what we need to survive! Nobody wants to go hungry and most creatures will do whatever it takes to ensure their place at the table.

Jesus came to set a new order of things! When the King of Glory placed a towel around his waist and washed the feet of His disciples what was he trying to tell them? What I'm hearing Him say as I read it right now is this, "I am all sufficient! I don't need to strive for dominance. I hold it all in my hands! I can peacefully place myself into the role of servant because I am not in fear of losing worldly status. My role in eternity is secure, man cannot take that away." And He wants us to "do likewise."

If we understand our value in Christ and truly grasp that our only intrisic value is in the eyes of a loving Savior, then we are no longer tied to worldly values. This results in the peaceful understanding that no matter whether our little kingdoms rise or fall, we are safe in Him. There's no scripture to support that bad attitudes and striving with others will result in a greater place in God's Kingdom. Quite the contrary! To lead you must serve, and to be first you must be last.

Our moments of glory pass so very quickly. Our little victories of temporary dominance only tie us to the things that don't matter. Only by understanding that our completeness lies solely in Jesus can we ever really follow His wonderful example of humble, quiet, service to others.