Living in the Spirit
May 24, 2016

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 18:20-39

At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt-offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.’ –1 Kings 18:36-39

Elijah had created a situation that looked impossible, trying to burn an offering to the Lord on a waterlogged altar with no flame. He wanted to show those who cast their hope on imitations of power that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel was the one true source of power and God did not forsake him.

We are caught up in world settling for many lesser gods, playing faith groups against each other driving wedges among God’s people. It is time that we who believe there is one God desperately need to become one in God. How do we do that? We certainly, individually and collectively need to pray for God’s guidance and open our hearts to the truth the Lord will provide. We also need to find the few things we proclaim that are similar and worked from those points to find oneness.

The big argument that took place in Jerusalem to deal with issues of what is right and what is wrong in worship and beliefs was very heated. On most issues it seems they agreed to disagree. But they did come to one area of solidarity, the need to feed the poor—not a bad place for any of us to start.

Prayer: Lord love us to oneness. Forgive us when our foolish pride to be right creates wrong actions. Help us find common ground on which to build your kingdom. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.