Welcome! It's About Time . . .

Psalm 133 (New King James Version)

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

 ¹ Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
         For brethren to dwell together in unity!
      
 ² It is like the precious oil upon the head,
         Running down on the beard,
         The beard of Aaron,
         Running down on the edge of his garments.
 ³ It is like the dew of Hermon,
         Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
         For there the LORD commanded the blessing—
         Life forevermore.



Honestly, it's about time that someone devoted a reasonable amount of time to promoting unity in the Body of Christ, especially in it's American representation.

Yes, I realize that it's short-sighted to say "it's about time," as it is possible that there are lots of people who devote lots of time to promoting church unity, but, given the divisions that still exist among us, it couldn't possibly hurt to add another sound voice that uses Biblical perspective to address the issues that tear us apart.  Hence, the reason why we're all here: to identify the things that tear us apart, root out the things that don't belong, set aside the things that don't matter, and embrace the things that bring us together.  That is why God has inspired me to start the Psalm 133 blog.

Now, I've been in the church as far back as I can remember (which is at least the age of 5,) and have been a part of several different types of services and congregations, and have witnessed both great successes and absolute failures when it comes to unity in the Body of Christ.  I've watched Baptists and Assembly of God members work together in the most poverty-stricken parts of India, and I've watched like-minded believers who didn't even have denominational differences tear each other apart and divide a church, hamstringing a force for good in a community.

Why do we have such a disparity in our actions?  Do we not realize what the psalm is telling us?  Let me break it down for you in brief: when there's unity in the Church, the power of God can flow freely (the oil is a picture of the anointing power of God, just like in Psalm 23), and, he commands his blessing of life forevermore upon us!  How can we possibly allow division and strife to exist in our midst when it would keep us from promises such as these?

We'll break down the Psalm more in the coming posts.

Of course, in order to be in receipt of that commanded blessing, it's necessary for us to understand what unity actually looks like.  Does it mean that we all have to believe exactly the same things and interpret the Bible the same way?  Maybe it means eliminating the disputes between preachers that often become fodder for the media, and which are often proliferated just for the sake of some publicity and an ego boost.  We'll look at that in depth as well.

We'll also tackle individual issues and look at the Biblical perspective on them, things like speaking in tongues, money, denominations, etc.  We'll even look at practical ways for churches to work together to spread the Gospel, because, after all, that's why we're here, right?  For the sake of the glory of God and fulfillment of His Great Commission?

When all is said and done, I know there's a way for us to work together to bring in the harvest, and that's why we're going forward with this undertaking.  I hope you'll join me in helping to bring to light God's take on all of this, as we work to develop the unity that we need so that his power can flow and so that he can command the blessing upon us, even life forevermore.

Thank you.