Friday, September 16 – Acts 11:15

And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning.

When you play a sport, the people on your team all began learning the game at different times in their lives. No matter if it is the first day that they are playing or the hundredth time, they are still part of the team. When Peter made this statement, he was connecting the common thread that the same God who worked in the lives of the disciples at Pentecost was alive and at work in the Gentiles. There was no spiritual elite who were Jews first, or any legalistic boxes to check off before beginning to follow Jesus. Paul echoed this idea in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Both Peter and Paul shared something we often forget—we are all one in Christ Jesus. There will be some Christians you meet who grew up in families of faith and others who are just starting to understand who Jesus is as an adult. We share life with our brothers and sisters in Christ because of who He is, not because of what we have done or where we are from. When we face conflict or even just have different approaches to life with brothers and sisters in Christ, we can remember that the same Spirit lives inside of them. When we see a new follower of Jesus not getting the details of the faith exactly right, what if we walked with them instead of looking down on them? Unity does not come naturally; it is something we only have through the Holy Spirit. In good times and bad, in our faith and in our church, remember the barriers Christ has torn down and the unity we have through Him.

• When was a time you had a hard time relating with another Christian? Why?
• Why is unity in Christ worth fighting for even when it’s not easy?
• Pray and ask God what steps you need to take toward unity today.