“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 1:10 NKJV)

Why are so many claiming to be Christians at each others throats? Why do we feel the need to argue with one another over things that are really non-issues? Why all the gossip and backbiting? Do these things not evidence that we aren’t where we’re supposed to be as a Church?

When we ought to be united in Christ we are tearing each other to shreds instead. But that’s not the worst of it: there are many who seem to think that the only people who really matter in the Church are those who belong to their social clique. At least that is the impression that they give off anyway.

Perhaps we don’t like the way someone looks or the way that they talk; or maybe we don’t like facing the fact that people who are younger than us might know more than we do about godly things; or maybe we don’t like it when people disagree with us on certain matters; or maybe we just think that unless someone has something to offer to us they are not of any value.  Is life in Christ about being self-serving?  Shouldn’t we be more concerned about what He wants for us than what we want for ourselves? It’s because we act selfishly that the Church is divided and that people are driven away from it.  And then we just sit back and watch them leave the Church discouraged, never to return again because they didn’t feel the warmth of Christ’s love in His people.  That is, they didn’t encounter Jesus Christ through us–His chosen vessels.

How could we let this happen? When will we wake up and live as God has commanded us to? Have we forgotten what the word love means? When will we stop all of this nonsensical argumentation and get serious about fulfilling the role that has been assigned to us as the body of Christ? For that matter, when will we actually acknowledge Him as being the head of the body? It is no wonder that unbelievers look at us in a negative way. What else are they supposed to think about us when they hear us telling them that they ought to love one another while we’re engrossed in hating each other and debating and arguing over things that we should be in agreement on? The bottom line is this:

We make Christianity unbelievable when we don’t exercise faith in its message!

Now that’s not to suggest that there is no place for correction. After all, the Bible encourages us to cast “down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NKJV); however, we aren’t talking about refuting false doctrine here; we’re talking about translating our faith into something practical; we’re talking about behaving like Jesus Christ; we’re talking about walking in His love. Not just accepting it, but sharing it without discrimination.

Unfortunately, many of us don’t really know what this means because we don’t spend as much time looking to Jesus as we ought to. If we would spend less time fault-finding and more time examining the life of Christ as it is disclosed in the Bible, we might just see the big picture of what it really means to walk with Him. Thus we will have a far greater impact on the world as we allow the light of Christ’s love to shine through our hearts. And when that happens we will set lives aglow with His mercy and kindness, and hearts will be turned to God as we show the world what it means to be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” as that of Jesus Christ.

Is this what you want to see happen in your life? Is this what you would like to see take place within the Church?  If so, don’t just want it; do your part to make it happen!

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