Yesterday we wrote about one of the greatest moves of God … the Moravian Revival. When the community was in complete disarray, Count Zinzendorf focused on how they could live together in love despite their differences. He called all the men together for an intense study of the Scriptures to focus on how Christian life in community was portrayed. These studies combined with intense prayer convinced many of the believers that they were called to live together in love and that their disunity and conflict were contrary to the clear calling of Scripture.
Zinzendorf’s dream was to see the differences among the community’s many traditions become secondary to a corporate unity in love. In the history of the Moravian revival, we read:
“Zinzendorf was not aiming at organizational unity and uniformity among Christians and did not desire the dissolution of particular traditions, but rather their binding together in fraternal charity, mutual respect, communication and communion within a sort of loose federation.”
Thus they learned to agree to disagree on certain subjects – the one thing they agreed upon was the emphasis on love – and this was necessary in order to fulfill the “great commission.”
Reader, the complexities of God’s truth will make uniformity in all doctrines impossible for all believers. It is even probable that secondary issues may be used of God to test our hearts. The essential truths of the faith, however, are indisputable among true brethren and they form the truth basis for our unity. The Moravian Revival motto was, “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, but in all things love!” Revivals always reveal the veracity and power of this motto, and their fruit is the result of God’s wonderful unifying presence. We will not compromise on the essentials (though some may even disagree on what they are); and we will peacefully discuss our convictions about secondary issues, agreeing to disagree and preserving the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Most people overlook a very significant part of the parable of the prodigal son, which is – the elder son received his inheritance as well! (Luke 15:12b) According to the custom of the times, the older son's inheritance would have been twice that of the younger son. In that light, his response to his younger brother's initiative, a response of silence...speaks volumes.
I'm sure we all have heard the parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15:11-32], but I want to spend some time this week really dissecting this particular parable so we can gain deeper insight into this message of Jesus (Yeshua).
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