Our personal perspective is the road we take to come to the same place, unity in faith in Christ.

This is the last line from yesterday and leads one to ask; how can we come to unity in faith if we all have our own private perspective?

Let us look to Ephesians 4 for an answer.

Ephesians 4:1-7

English Standard Version

Unity in the Body of Christ

¹ I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷ But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Unity comes about because of the oneness spoken of in verses 4, 5 and 6. If we were to seek unity and faith in a search engine we find verse 13 that states that we all attain a unity of faith which can be misleading. It is only misleading from the standpoint that Paul is referring to the completed body of Christ, His complete bride. We are but a part of the body of Christ and not a whole body until the second resurrection.

This does not mean we as individuals cannot have unity in faith in Christ in this present age and at this time. What makes that unity in faith is the presence of Christ who dwells in our hearts. In order to understand that we must put aside our personal perspectives which are part of our minds, wills, and emotions, i.e. our souls.

When Christ speaks through any one of us, the Spirit who is one with Christ will agree, yes and amen. This is the unity in faith we seek.

Lamentations 5:1-4 English Standard Version

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

¹ Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
⁴ We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.

We left off yesterday speaking about personal perspective. This led me to search the scriptures for something that is personal to each of us in different ways. How that can happen is in the issues of the life we each have lived and what has befallen us. It is different for each of us.

Disgrace is the lament of the author but not the only emotional reaction to life events. It is up to us to confess how we feel about the events of life that have shaped our histories and perspectives. It is personal and while we may find others with the same experience we should be aware that others might lament in different ways and draw their own conclusions.

What should be common for all of us is the restoration of relationship with our God. In this we will find it is a matter of personal perspective because we are all coming from a different place, even if we are neighbors.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Our past does not dictate our future, no matter what has happened to us and how we feel about it.

Our personal perspective is the road we take to come to the same place, unity in faith in Christ.