Sun.’s Devo - Unity

Read: Genesis 11:1-13:4; Matthew 5:1-26; Psalm 5:1-12; Proverbs 1:24-28; Proverbs 1:24-28
The whole earth spoke one language. They all went east and built the city in Shinar which became Babylon. The word for language denotes their speech, what they said and their attitudes. They all had the same determined goal which was to build a pyramid to heaven and control the earth from there. They made it of brick and bitumen from slime pits. Everything they did was to promote man as the god of the earth. God knew that their unity would bring the results they were wanting so he had to stop them. He confused their language and gave them different languages which caused them to scatter across the earth. Babylon is the seat of Satan which is the essence of confusion.
Just think of what the Church could do if we were one!
God chose Shem’s line to put his name on the earth. Shem means “a name”. Abram was the seventh in Shem’s line. God spoke to Abram and told him to leave his country and go to a land that he would show him and He would make him a great nation. Through Abram, the whole earth would be blessed and God would curse anyone who cursed him. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and left Haran and set out for the land of Canaan.
He stopped in a place between Bethel and Ai and built an altar to the Lord and offered sacrifices to the Lord.
There was a famine in the land so they had to go to Egypt to get food. Abram told Sarai to tell everyone that she was his sister instead of his wife so he would not be killed. If he died, she would be left defenseless also. Abram should have trusted God but he was learning. God did come to his rescue. They took Sarai which caused a curse on the men of Egypt. They came down with a serious disease and traced it to the time they took Sarai. The king gave Sarai back to Abram and rebuked him for lying. He sent them on their way. Abram had become a very rich man by then.
Abram returned to his altar between Ai and Bethel and offered more sacrifices and prayers to the Lord. He was back where he had started and ready to begin anew.
What a great lesson to us when we mess us. We need to repent and start over, not wallow in our mistakes and condemnation. Every day, God’s mercies are new and fresh and we can start over clean and forgiven.
In Jesus’ sermon on the mountain he gave great rewards to those who were humble, mourning, hungry and thirsty, merciful, peacemakers and persecuted for the right. They would receive the kingdom of heaven, be comforted, inherit the earth, be filled, see God, and be called his sons. He told us we are the light of the world because his light is in us. We are the salt of the earth because we bring flavor and eternity to the earth. He ended with something that is most important. He said that he didn’t come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. The law is our inheritance and we need to know what it says. The words of the prophets are still speaking to us today. He taught how important it is to have right relationships here on earth because it affects our relationship with Him. We must get our earthly relationships right first before we can bring an acceptable gift to God.
He encourages us to do it quickly before it has time for Satan to get involved because he is the unjust judge. He will turn a little misunderstanding into a huge bitter root.
Lord, help us to free our lives of wrong attitudes and judgments against your people. May we be one as you and the Father are one.