Same Substance, Different Packages

I wanted raisins with my frosted mini wheats this morning, but when I searched the fridge, I couldn’t find the package. I settled for dried blueberries.

When Nancy came into the kitchen after I’d finished breakfast, I asked her if we are all out of raisins. She said, “There in the refrigerator.”

“Where? I asked, as I opened the doors again.

“Right in front of you.”

I looked up and down and still couldn’t see them.

“Where?” I asked again, a little louder, as if to tell her she was wrong.

“Right in front of you,” she said again. This time she pointed.

I followed her finger. And there they were. In a box. Just like she said. Right in front of me. They’d been invisible in plain sight.

My trouble was, I was looking for a large BAG of raisins, the kind we’ve been using for years. I couldn’t see the BOX of raisins because they were packaged differently. Same raisins, different package.

Nancy then said something to me that resonated in my spirit. “That’s like how so many Christians are invisible to each other because they’re packaged differently.”

As I thought about what she’d just said, I realized how true is her observation.

Many of us have been taught, in different ways and through various expressions, that Christians ought to believe as we believe. And then we meet someone who doesn’t meet our expectations of true Christian theology. They’re the same ‘raisins’ inside, but because they’re packaged differently, we don’t ‘see’ them.

We might all benefit – indeed, the CHURCH would benefit, if we took the Holy Spirit’s admonition through St. Paul to heart:

“Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s . . . But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. . . . Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” (Romans 14:1-13)

What did the Lord Jesus say to Peter when the disciple pointed at John and asked, “Lord, what about him?” The Lord responded, saying in essence, “Peter, it’s none of your business what I do with John. As for you, “Follow Me.” (John 21:21)

“Oh! How pleasant it is,” the Psalmist cried aloud, “for brothers to dwell together in unity.” (Psalm 133)

No wonder St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Listen, Christian! Jesus said a house divided cannot stand. And don’t think for a moment Satan doesn’t know that verse – and apply that truth to the entire Body of Christ as often as he can.

Oh, may God the Holy Spirit change us all in 2021, so that our brothers and sisters of different churches no longer remain invisible, even as they stand right before our eyes. May the Church, which is the Body of Christ (Colossians 1:24), walk together in unity.