Will it Ever Happen?

For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren . . . that there are quarrels among you . . . that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:11-13)

During the forty years –

has it really been forty years?  --

since I turned my life

over to Christ,

my wife and I have attended

numerous churches.

 

Baptist.

Pentecostal.

Nazarene.

Episcopal.

Presbyterian.

Anglican . . . .

 

And now,

Catholic.

 

And in each church,

there were those

who with great enthusiasm

told me how glad they were

to be Baptist.

Or Pentecostal.

Or Nazarene.

Or Anglican.

Or Catholic . . . .

 

And I always wondered,

as I still wonder,

why some seemed so determined

to make their point

about their church,

instead of saying

how glad they were

to be a Christian.

A child of God.

A member of Christ.

 

The labels

of course

highlight our differences.

“Christian” highlights

our same-ness.

 

But I realize the reason

for the division.

 

Satan knows

as well as Jesus knows,

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

 

So no wonder,

as happened to the Christians at Corinth,

where some boasted being “of Paul,”

some “of Apollos”

others of “Cephas”

Satan sustains the divisions

to this day.

For he knows

if we focus on our same-ness

and not our group-ness,

his work in our world

would collapse.

 

Will it ever happen

that the world for whom Christ died

will recognize Christians

by their love

one for another?