But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
A people divided...
A people divided, pitting one group against the other.
We see it in our nation.
Doesn't take a PhD to recognize what's going on.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that behind it are the plans of our enemy, the devil, and his rule here on earth.
We have black against white.
Gay's against everyone who disagrees with their agenda.
The church is being battered at every turn by those who feel that the institution should be pushed into the closet of irrelevance.
I guess these kind of divisions are to be expected, as the eternal clock is ticking down.
II Timothy 3 gives us a list of human behaviors that will become very evident "In the last days."
In fact, we are told that in these days "Stressful" times will be a part of our national fabric.
What we are truly seeing is the uncovering of the character and nature of humanity.
We are seeing the dark side of mankind that we don't really want to talk about.
We are a nation divided.
But what truly concerns me it that we are seemingly becoming a church divided.
Bickering....
Finger pointing....
My church is better than your church....
Choosing sides.....
There are no sides if we claim to be the body of Christ.
In fact, we tend to forget that we actually have surrendered our right to choose when we come to Jesus.
If He is truly Lord of our life....
If we truly acknowledge Him as our Savior...
Then we can only choose what He chooses for us.
First and foremost....our choice is to love.
Not love as the world declares or defines..
But we love the same as our Father in heaven.
When we allow ourselves to be a divided body, we tend to forget that the world is watching.
We are giving them a perfect reason for why they don't want to be a part of our church.
"Why should I go to church? Those folks are just like every one else...hypocrites."
Well, you know what I say?
"Come and join us, there is always room for one more."
When I look at the church as a whole, I see a lot of slick imaging.
Mission statements that are lofty and express great ideas...
But what if we had to use truth in advertising when it came to promoting our churches?
What if our mission statements read as follows:
"Come and join us! We have a clique for everyone!"
Or how about.....
"We the only church in town that will allow you to not change anything about your lifestyle!"
Or maybe.....
"We are great at pretending to be followers of Jesus!"
I keep hearing the words of John Wimber in my head.....
And I know that these words apply to me.
"I just want to grow up before I grow old."
That is what I truly desire to do.
To let love cover and rule over my disagreements.
To not let myself become jaded and hard against those I might disagree with.
Pray for me as I try to move toward the life Jesus really desires me to live.
God on you...
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