Scripture for Today: Ephesians 4:2-3 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

Growing up, I usually had just the smaller box of crayons.  I would look with longing at the mega box of the person next to me.  Their choices were so much more varied and their pictures just seemed better.  Not only was my box smaller but often my crayons were dull, broken or mixed up.  There was nothing like opening a bright new box!

Imagine opening a new box and finding sixty-four crayons of just one color!  It might be a very pretty bright color.  But without the others, the resulting image would lack interest and depth.  Without the others, the picture would be incomplete.

Our verse for today teaches us to keep intact the unity of the Spirit.  It is together that the Body of Christ, or the Church, functions as it should.  Each color is important to demonstrate God’s glory and design.  He created us to have different colors or gifting.  The purple does not insist on being more important and necessary than the green.  The darker colors are needed for shading.  Each member is important to God’s family.  Each gift is needed to add color and beauty to God’s design for the Church.

It takes concentrated effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.  Our tendency is to be prideful about our own color.  We get impatient and unloving with the one next to us, coloring outside the lines.  We can easily destroy unity by inciting divisions according to color!  Keeping the unity, we create something beautiful together and God is glorified.

Lord, keep me humble, gentle, and appreciative of all the “colors” You have created!