Leadership Thought: Why Can't You Christians Get Along?

Dear Friends, 

Christians don't always agree with one another, but they still must learn to love one another.

Paul and Peter had their practical and theological differences. 

Paul writes. "When Peter. came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. but when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy so that. by their hypocrisy, even Barnabas was led astray (Galatians 1:11-13).

Paul has an issue with the actions of Peter, but they still remained brothers in the faith.

Peter writes about the importance of not letting differences divide us.

"Now that you have purified. yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:22-23).

It really bothers me when I hear pastors criticize one another over minor theological points, or the way they lead their churches.

It is sad when people leave the church because they can't get along with one another, and they remain unwilling to work through their relational or theological differences.

In today's politically charged environment, personal friendships have been severed over differing political views. 

We live in a contentious time, and as believers we need to do everything we can to preserve the spirit of unity within the body. We must never be content to allow our personal differences to fracture our friendships and our fellowship.

The greatest witness to the unbelieving world in that first century church was their unity of those believers, in spite of their many differences, they maintained an amazing spirit of unity, so amazing that those on the outside remarked, "See how they love one another."

Remember that old Christian song we used to sing. 

“They will know we are Christians by our Love, by our love; Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love." 

We need that kind of love today if we have any chance of convincing the unbelieving world that Christianity makes a difference in how we live and love.

There's an old Jewish legend that tells the story of the place where the temple in Jerusalem was built. 

There were two brothers who loved each other and who had adjoining farms. The farms yielded great crops of wheat. The difference between the two brothers was that one was a bachelor, without a wife and children. The other was married and had many children. 

At the harvest time, when the crops were in, the bachelor brother looked out over his lands, and he said to himself, "the harvest has been plentiful." Then he thought of his brother. "My brother has many mouths to feed.  My brother has more needs than I do." So, he bundled up his wheat and began to carry it to his brother's farm. 

Meanwhile, the other brother looked down across his lands and to himself, "My harvest has been plentiful."  And then his mind turned to his brother. He said, "My brother is a bachelor. My brother yearns for children, and he'll never see those children. My brother has nobody to comfort him in his sorrows and to help him in his hurts.

And so, his brother, too, bound up his wheat and made for his brother's farm. And at the place where these two brothers crossed paths, the Temple of God was built, for heaven was closest to earth at that spot.

Robert Southwell said, "Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live."

Good words for Christians to learn and live by in a contentious and unbelieving world who longs to  know, "Does the Christian faith really make a difference in the way one lives?"

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom