Battleground

Audio version here

John 17:23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (NIV)

There’s a lot of selfish-minded and self-destructive people in the Christian church today, especially in the United States. Christians are expressing their loathing of one another and causing upsets in congregations across all denominations. Usually, these divisions are created through different interpretations of scripture, dogma, and traditional ways. They involve worship wars, clergy wars, and lifestyle wars. Instead of being places where Christ’s peace can be experienced, churches are becoming battlegrounds for discontent, division, and schism. Perhaps, at the end of this century, the establishment that we call church today will be so fragmented that its message will be feeble and futile in an increasingly secular world.

Jesus doesn’t mince His words or pull any punches. The purpose of a united church is to consolidate the faithful and present an effective message to the world. We seem to have forgotten, in the midst of our skirmishes and schisms, that the church was established to go out into a divided, barbaric, and pagan world, presenting a message of peace, hope, and love.

But because we have become sinfully selfish, rebellious and intolerant, the world no longer listens to the message we are preaching and presenting because we are not practicing it. If we honestly want to become more effective and evangelize the world once again, we’ve got to get honest with ourselves and ask these questions: what are we doing that disturbs the unity and peace of the church? What can we do to promote Christ’s peace in a loving, faithful, genuine, and effective manner?

As always, if we want to change the world, it begins at home. And so, if we want to change the church, it begins in our souls.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your Church is beset with battles and scarred with schisms. Pride and prejudice have contaminated our souls and belittled Your work in the world. Forgive us for being headstrong and foolish, vain and conceited. Help us to get back on to the path that You have proclaimed for two thousand years – the path of peace and not self-promotion – the road to unity and not division. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.