If it doesn't count for Christ, it doesn't count.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Welcome to CrossConnected


This is a blog that I created mostly for our Sunday School class, but, just like our class, anyone is welcome here to read and comment.

CrossConnected is the name of my Sunday School class at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Byram, MS.  Our name comes from Jesus' prayer in the Upper Room on the night before He was to be crucified.

John 17:23 (New King James Version)23 ". .. I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one . . ."



When an individual comes to the cross and accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, a connection is instantly created. The Holy Spirit comes into them, filling a place left void in humanity from the moment sin entered the world with Adam's act of disobedience. They are connected with Jesus. He is their personal Savior, Lord of their life.  They are connected with God. ("I in them, and You in Me . . ." They are connected with every other Christian in existence. ( ". . . that they may be made perfect in One.")  We are One. We're not perfect yet, but we are One, being made perfect by the work of Jesus Christ in us. We are connected by Jesus Christ by way of His sacrifice on our behalf on the Cross. We are connected by the cross. We are CrossConnected!

We each are uniquely and wonderfully made!  We were created different from one another. Satan has been quite successful in taking the things that make us different, our differentness, if I may, and turning those into differences, which come between us and divide us and tear us apart. This does not have to be so for Christians, and, indeed, it should not be so. It does not matter who we are, where we are from, what our background is, what our financial status is, what our race, sex, or ethnicity is. None of the myriad of things that make us different from one another matters. Our Lord is working to make us "perfect in One". That is His work within The Body, but we should all stop from time to time and ask ourselves, "Am I working against Him? Do I see the difference, or do I see the connection?"   

I'll leave you for now with this:

1 Corinthians 13:10-13 (New International Version)

10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

God Himself is love. Jesus suffered immeasurably and died for us because of His love for us. I've said that I am not sure just what it means for us to be One, nor what being made perfect in One entails. But, that does not keep me from believing that it starts with love. . . Christ's love in us, and through us.

Connected,
Dennis

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