"The devils are united as one man in their infamous rebellion, while we believers in Jesus are divided in our service of God, and scarcely ever work with unanimity." - Charles Spurgeon
The Bible says that it is good and that it is pleasant for the brethren to dwell together in unity. The Bible goes on to say in Psalm 133:2 that it is like a precious ointment upon the head. With that being said, why is that we cannot seem to dwell together in unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not talking about yoking up with those that promote and teach false doctrine; neither am I talking about yoking up with those who are not saved. I am talking about Christians who agree on the fundamentals of the faith. In the New Testament, Jude exhorted his readers to "earnestly contend for the faith." He did not say contend for the issues, he said contend for the faith!
Is it any wonder that we do not see people coming to Christ when the Body is divided? Is it any wonder that people want nothing to do with the Bride of Christ? Our enemy, Satan, and all of his cronies are most definitely united in their cause to destroy the name of Jesus Christ. Why is it that we feel that we must attack others in the Body who don't cross their t's and dot their i's the way we do? Again, I am not talking about those who are in doctrinal error. This was the problem at Corinth, they were divided with one saying they were of Paul and another saying they were of Apollos. Unfortunately, not much has changed since then. Today in the Body of Christ we have all sorts of cliques and camps proudly touting who they are of: I am Sword of the Lord, I am Hyles-Anderson, I am in the camp meeting crowd, or I am BBF. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not trying to pick on these specific groups, but rather I am just using them for examples. Sadly, the reality is that if someone doesn't do what we think they should be doing or do it the way we think they should, we want to separate from them and ostracize them even when there is no Biblical reason or mandate for doing so.
Does it bother you that people are dying lost and spending an eternity in Hell because the Body is too busy fighting among themselves? May God convict our hearts of this terrible wickedness and sin! We have the truth that this lost world needs, but they are not hearing it because we are too busy fighting with each other. I know that I am running the risk of being labeled a compromiser by my IFB brethren, but that is okay because I quit worrying what "the brethren" thought a long time ago. I am ONLY concerned with pleasing Jesus Christ and being obedient to Him.
There is absolutely something wrong when you see the level of vitriol that is present among the Body today, especially coming from "men of God." This attacking one another has got to stop! How can we say the love of Christ dwells in us and then turn around and go after another brother in Christ just because it doesn't agree with our opinions or personal preferences? All of this is done under the pretense of taking a stand. My question is: taking a stand for what? Where is the humility? Where is the meekness? Where is the brokenness?
I can't help but think about what a hot time it is going to be at the Judgment Seat of Christ as we have to give account to Christ for the discord that we have sown in the Body. How many people have died lost and are now burning in Hell because of the lack of unity in the Body? Do we even care or does it even bother us that our lack of unity and our discord is hindering us from sharing the Gospel with those that are in desperate need of salvation?
May the Lord forgive us for our lack of unity and may He forgive us for the way treat other members of His Body! I pray that we would ask the Lord for meekness, humility, and that our hearts would be broken!
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