Daily Devotional

Want to start a fight—a virtual holy war among a number of denominations? Just move a ladder that has been leaning for hundreds of years against a second story window at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Nobody really agrees on who owns it or why it is there. They only agree that no one gets to touch it without a fight!

Here, in the place where many believe Christ died, was buried, and rose again, one would think there would be the greatest sense of unity, grace, and mercy. Instead, we have an unending turf war over a ladder! I once read an observation from a non-Christian religious leader in which one of his fellow leaders expressed the desire to stop the growing number of Christians in his country. He responded that if they persecute Christians, they’ll unite. However, if they just leave them alone, the Christians will die fighting among themselves. So very sad!

Oh, how we love to fight. Many of our churches are made up of feuding gangs of battling believers and dueling disciples who are willing to accept a good fight among the faithful. Frankly, if the truth be told, some find it entertaining. What a “shame to the Name.” And we pay the price—so said the apostle Paul who, in his early years, was no stranger to an argument. He had a sharp disagreement with his fellow missionary, Barnabas, over whether Mark was useful (cf. Acts 15:36-41). Later, that same apostle Paul wrote: “…if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:15). Since this epistle to the Galatians was one of Paul’s earliest, one wonders if he was speaking of his own foolish experience with Barnabas.

What are the immovable ladders destroying our unity with other true believers? Debatable traditions? Minor doctrinal differences? Things about which we could choose to lovingly agree to disagree? Perhaps we are fully engaged in church music wars or color of paint disputes. It happens more often than we admit!

Saint Augustine is known to have called for a healthier perspective: “In essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.” Sadly, Christians today are even arguing over who really said that! And again, we miss the point of what Jesus said:

John 13:34–35 - “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Take to heart the timeless words so needed in the Church today. They were written by a more mature and less contentious apostle Paul:

Philippians 2:1–4 - “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

And now, can someone please take the first step of unity and go move that ridiculous looking, out of place ladder? It just doesn’t belong in Christ’s Church.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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