“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” 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” Ephesians 4:2,3.
There’s a very interesting story right near the end of the book of Joshua. He has now finished the big task of allotting land to each of the tribes and everyone is heading to their space to plant and raise their family. As per previous agreement, a couple of the tribes received land on the east side of the Jordan river. They had stayed with the other tribes to war against people in Canaan but now they headed across the Jordan with riches and everyone’s blessings.
The first thing they did was build an impressive altar at the edge of the river, and when the other tribes heard about it, they amassed for war to eradicate these brother tribes, believing that they were already defecting to idol worship. Fortunately, they sent a delegation ahead of the soldiers to give these tribes a tongue lashing. As they palavered, the offending tribes were horrified and made it clear that they built the altar so no one would forget that brothers and Jaweh followers lived on both sides of the Jordan. “This is a witness between us that the Lord is God” (22:34). And so a disaster was averted.
Isn’t this so relevant to the brittle days we are living in! Current cultural climate teaches us to draw quick conclusions and demonize those with a different opinion than ours. This was highlighted through covid where we were quick to prepare for war, even among the saints. I believe there are still many fractures waiting to be healed.
Let me suggest that Christians are to be different. The Quakers have a saying: “An enemy is one whose story we have not heard.”
I remind you that we are part of a movement called The Christian and Missionary Alliance. The word ‘alliance’ means “a union of nations or groups.” We come from all kinds of backgrounds and congregate around ‘going deeper and going wider.’ One of our Alliance leaders, A.W. Tozer, said 60 years ago: “Three quarters of a century ago our society was raised up to be a witness to deeper truth in a day of weak inadequate Christian teaching. It now exists to give testimony to sober, chaste, pure and dignified Christianity in a day of fleshly gospelism and superficial pseudo worship. The Alliance is as badly needed now as at the time of its inception.” By its nature there will be all kinds of approaches to these truths.
Here's my suggestion to you. Instead of making statements, how about asking questions for a while instead. After all, we never learn anything while we are talking. Seek to understand another Christian before making judgements. Perhaps you could ask to hear someone’s story and then you may not be so quick to become brittle.
Pastor Leon Throness
