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This verse will always be special to me. More than thirty-five
years in the autumn and winter of 1977 Mary and I were planning our wedding. How
wedding was nothing fancy, any photos we showed you would prove that. We were
several hundred miles from her mom and dad, and neither we nor our families had
much money, so we all did what we could to make some nice memories.
One thing we wanted to do was to pick a Bible verse that
would set the tone for our home. Our goal was to choose a verse that would set
the tone for our home and whatever God sent our way. On my desk is the Bible
that we marked and used for a photograph. Our hands frame the verse we chose: Romans
15.6 – ‘That ye may with one mind and mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.’
That has been a great reminder through the years and it
suits a marriage well. Two people, from different backgrounds, with different
personalities, preferences, ideas, quirks and all come together to be one. As
one we seek to no longer prioritise those things as we seek to with one heart
and one voice glorify our God.
The same is true for the body of Christ and that is what
Paul is addressing here. As we have seen over the last few days we have a responsibility
to lay aside those same backgrounds and personalities and preferences and ideas
and quirks and all to come together as one body. We agree to no longer dwell on those things
but to act as one body as we strive to, with one mind and one voice glorify our
God.
That doesn’t mean that we all become alike. We are still ‘me’
just as we are as a married couple still are still individuals. It’s just that
the ‘me’ takes second place to ‘we’ and we seek to serve out Lord as one.
2 comments:
God alone is good; God and Jesus Christ alone is Trustworthy.
Your marriage is a living being of spirit, and its representation in flesh would be you both and your children; God made you one in spirit and flesh. Just as a human being is one and cannot be separated, so the marriage covenant is one and cannot be separated. Just like a person can be ignored yet still remains, so the living marriage covenant can be ignored yet still remains; and that would be divorce which leads to adultery. Marriage cannot be revoked or broken, any more than a person can be revoked or destroyed. It is permanent and living, lasting until Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life renews all things on the Last Day for Judgement by the only true judge.
The living marriage can suffer and have joy, just like a person can suffer and have joy. But it remains alive, just as the person remains alive. So tend to the living marriage by loving one another.
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