Unseen

A cluster of bodies.

Clamor to see…to hear.

Crushed all together,

Watching as the boat’s steered.

 

Hands over brows

Faces to sun

Yearning but sad,

To see no more that was done.

 

Watching oar break water

Backs turned toward me

Hurting, despairing,

Will He return and be…

 

Will He be the one,

The physician who heals;

Or will I go alone,

Walking shamefully still?

 

Heard rumors, stories,

Healings He’s done by power;

Want restoration, peace,

No more to be dour.

 

What more can be lost;

All is gone now?

Am unclean, impure,

Yet, I want, must believe, no loss, no how.

 

The shame, people fear my touch

Though nothing I can do;

Tried it all with no change

As I beheld each moon.

 

Washed and never dirty,

Still seen ever the same,

Unclean, deserted, shamed

Knowing, must believe, it can be changed.

 

Faith that all had been lost

These now twelve years past,

Dare I hope and not despair;

Are the rumors and whispers true, dare I ask?

 

Oh, murmurs like a raging river

Silence like chaos restrained,

Heart beats ever quicker,

Is it true, the boat’s heading this way?

 

Hands raised to brow

Searching, seeking for last hope,

Where will the boat land this time?

Is He even on the boat?

 

Heartbeats chase whispers,

The sound, a rapid rush;

Will this be the day?

My hope, my life, to have I must.

 

Gasp, catching my breath,

Be still, we may not meet;

Yet, the thunder of the tales,

Surely, surely, I must encounter, greet.

 

The bow beached, oars aglisten,

The splashing in me echoes,

Is this my time, I ask?

My heart cries, yes, step out. Go!

 

Still, I shrink back in the crowd;

They walk forward,

Then, I begin to think

Nothing lost; go onward.

 

From the back, pushing forward,

Touching arms and hips as I go,

Reaching out, just the hem;

I stretch and touch His cloak.

 

Instantly, I feel the blood runs no more.

At once, I’m not weak,

Not fatigued.

Hope latched-onto brought me peace.

 

In my solace, not agony,

Inside, all is renewed,

Considering the tales of this teacher

Renowned for His power imbued.

 

I hear His voice asking,

“Who just touched my cloak?”

I step back and tremble,

Stomach in throat and I choke.

 

He knew. How did He know?

None other asked who touched them.

But He knows and looks at me;

I’m caught; tell Him I touched His hem.

 

I fall at His feet;

In fear, I tremble;

What’s the cost; I have nothing?

What more can I possibly give?

 

Instead of reproving, His look shows love,

His eyes show the strength of His care;

He calls me “daughter”

And with His voice, I am spared.

 

More than social restoration,

More than my healing,

He said, “Your faith healed you.

Go in peace, be free of your illness.”

 

He addressed me;

He declared me clean.

I’m restored to the people

I can worship with others again.

I can go to the market.

I can wash my clothes with the women.

I can sit where I want.

I can be touched and hugged again.

 

Oh, the kindnesses I can enjoy,

But nothing e’er can surpass,

The greatest kindness given to me,

When the teacher came by me to pass.

 

The story I can tell,

Of the restoration He gave.

New health and growing belief;

He’s a teacher with power, and people wonder can He save?

 

Come to the teacher.

Hear and follow Him, too.

Come with your burden;

He can heal and make you new.

(Mark 5:24-34)

Growing in Unity

 

Do you operate independently of Truth and Love and show little growth? It affects unity in the body of Christ.

Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians to encourage them to continue in their unity and love for each other. With Ephesians 4:15-16, Paul reminded them how they can be unified. He told them God causes unity. Yet believers must live out what God puts in them to be unified. So, how did Paul say believers could achieve unity? Speak the truth. Be faithful to your covenant within the body to each believer. Grow up into a mature Christian, into Christlikeness.

Note: We manufacture none of these. The agape love Paul wrote has its source in God. As God loves us—sacrificially -we are to love other believers. Truth originates with God, too. It permeates the Bible from Genesis to Revelations and continues throughout eternity. Truth teaches and guides us as we grow, act on it, and teach others.

Why do we need to live in unity? First, to be part of the body of Christ. If you are the leg but do not work as a leg should, you cripple the whole body. If, however, you, the leg, get your instructions/motivation/ability from God, then you work in a way that benefits the whole body.

Unity is not an ideological fantasy. Unity occurs because of the agape love that originates with God. Before we believed in Jesus and He saved us, we had philia love, but we sometimes overrode that love with selfishness. Since Jesus saved us, we can love sacrificially. God gives us His power to overlook our self-interests and love sacrificially always; that’s agape love. To use another phrase, loving other believers sacrificially is covenant faithfulness. We have God’s interests—the best interests—of other people in mind. Others before self; the whole before themselves; these create unity.

Unity, Paul said, also occurs when believers, as the body of Christ (a Christ-unified whole) seek, in attaining or maintaining unity, to edify individual or groups of believers within itself. The growth can occur in many things that align with God, have their source from God, and cause unity within the body of Christ. Some of these things are Christian wisdom, purity, piety, holiness, joy, and peace. This edification is both organic (learning from God’s word in personal time with Him) and relational (learning through another Christian like a pastor, teacher, deacon, and friend).

None of these three—truth, agape love, or Christian growth—comes from oneself. Each of them has its source solely in God. Again, a believer cannot absorb any of these things just by being a believer. God provides these things, with or without another believer’s intercession. God expects each believer to function as a member of Christ's body. Without operating/living actively as part of the body, we are not beneficial to the rest of the body, and we do not grow in our faith and unity with the body, and the gifts the Spirit gives us stay merely seeds, useful to no one.

Truth, love, and growth must be lived out. God’s truths and love within us should compel us to seek Him more, tell other people about Jesus, and strengthen the body of Christ, the local and universal Church. Using the gifts the Spirit put into us, exercises and grows them; they, then, grow within us. Sharing God’s truths, His agape love, and what He has taught us as we have individually grown closer to Him and become more like Christ by living them out, is what helps grow the church to be unified.

God’s gifts plus Christian action grow the believer and the body of Christ, who is the Head, so the body matures into the image of Jesus Christ. Each believer is supposed to embody these grace gifts from God for a purpose. That purpose is not to hoard them for themselves. The purpose is to unite all believers into one likeness, Jesus. When we are like Jesus, we love sacrificially (covenantal faithful) and desire that all people know the truths of God, mature into Jesus’ likeness, and unify into the body of Christ, thereby projecting Him to the world.

Today, what aspect of your Christianity does not show your uniting with the body of Christ, Jesus? Are you always living out and teaching God’s truths? Do you love sacrificially? Are you growing in your relationship with God, so that your life shows Christ’s likeness? God gives each of these to us as grace gifts. Pray to God asking for forgiveness for not living in His power to share His truth, love sacrificially, and build up other believers. Ask God to help you stay focused on Him and use the power He gives to be unified in the body of Christ with Jesus as your Head.

Run to the Father

https://youtu.be/HTHS4W1bPj8?si=NNgHMlMLbyl5cVJ5