Whose Team are YOU On?
Don’t we all wear the same jersey?
It is amazing to me, how many Christians are at odds with each other over trivial matters. We essentially fight over who loves God “the most”, who loves Him the “right way” and other less pressing issues. Too many Christians waste too much time fighting other Christians.
What if the body of Christ actually took Jesus’ advice and looked to help others, build them up, and work together to advance God’s work? What if we took all the time and energy of fighting each other and instead worked toward helping and saving others?
Think of all the work that needs to be done: the church doors closing, ministries shutting down, people starving, those dying physically and spiritually. There is no shortage of work that needs to be done yet the biggest obstacle to Christianity is often…well, other “Christians”. How can we attract others to faith when we are so quick to fight one another? No one is perfect, but if we don’t show the love of Christ toward other believers how can we possibly attract non-believers. When we fight those on the same team, our opponent – the enemy wins! Let us fight the bigger battles and let’s stop wasting precious time!
I am reminded of Titus 3:9: “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.”
What do you think?
14 Comments
Good stuff Jay. I’ve recently run in to this myself. Not that I’m trying to do any great work for the Kingdom, but just talking. I was unfortunately reminded of Paul’s words in Romans: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” What a shame that so much bickering and fighting goes on. It’s no wonder Christianity is so openly mocked by non-believers/atheists.
Rob,
Sorry to hear about your experiences. I am continually baffled by those who claim to be trying to live a Christian life yet go out of their way to fight with others who share the same faith. We can agree to disagree on some of the smaller print but let us not forget the “bigger” picture.
Jay, good post. There’s a reason so much of Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane focused on unity among the believers. Sectarianism and infighting are the most natural of human impulse, whereas unity is rare enough and spiritual enough to validate the claims of Christ — see John 17:23. Of course, none of us see ourselves as fighting our own team; we see ourselves as defending the faith. All sorts of slander and vitriol can be made to feel spiritual when we call it “apologetics.”
Great points John! How are you doing? Glad to see you here. I pray God is blessing you abundantly. Let’s catch up soon!
You said it all in your post. When christians are fighting that means that they are spending more of their time in the world then in Jesus word and in His presence.
No question Jay, we all have been guilty of seeing the speck in our neighbors eye while ignoring the log in our own. The ecumenical movement got washed away in political and petty differences a few years back but I found great joy in discovering many committed Christians from other denominations. Thanks for all you are doing for the Kingdom! dls
You are so on trac with this post Jay. I often wonder just how much better it would be if everyone would just start focusing on the main point: JESUS, and his unconditional love for each of us, despite our pitty disagreements with each other of who is right and who is wrong. I believe this makes him so sad. Then again, he realizes our diversified DNAs. He already knows we are going to disagree.
I guess the best thing we can do is to just seek to be all we can be, all that he has created us for, and continue to state our own unique case. And through it all, HE WILL be glorified. That’s something we can all argue about until the end of time, but that IS a given!
Continue to stay positivily focused, and “keep your eyes on the prize!”
God bless you Jay, and have a GREAT day!
-Archie
I concur with you Jay, and it reminds me the following that I recently read: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Hey Jay!
Great stuff. We get caught up in the silliest things, and I am just as guilty as the next guy. I’m always embarrassed when I look back and see how ridiculous and petty some of these issues have been. Satan loves to distract us believers from the work God has called us to do.
We gotta catch up. I got your message the other day, but have been under the weather and trying to catch up from vacation. I will try to give you a call later in the week. Can’t wait to tell you about a program I’m ready to launch. I’m praying it will do exactly what you are talking about in this post – encourage churches and Christians to put aside their non-essential differences and come together to make a difference in a critical area of need.
See ya brother!
Steve
Jay – yes, sometimes it’s embarrassing to be grouped in with “Christians” in America. Rather than leading with that term I think we should all just show the compassion Jesus did – starting with each other.
Here’s a quote I ran across recently:
Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
~Christian D. Larson
all i can say Jay is a big AMEN!!!!
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN
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This is a subject which has been on my heart for years! We know that unity between churches will come because Jesus prayed in John 17:21: That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world my believe that You sent Me. Verses 22 and 23 gives further re-enforcement to His prayer: The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one. I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. I know this prayer will be answered! How will this unity will come about, I don’t know but I do know it will happen because of Jesus’ prayer for us! Instead of focusing on the imperfections that is in the church let’s focus our minds and hearts on Him! As we draw closer to Him unity will come! Maybe our dis-unity between ourselves is a reflection of our dis-unity with God? If we focus on ourselves we will soon get disappointed so let us encourage one another to Look to Jesus: the Author and Finisher of our faith. He will finish the work He has begun in us! Unity is on its way!