Wielding the Sword One Against Another

It is no suprise to any mature christian that attacks will come from without the Body. The attacks that really hurt are the ones that come from within. For the last two weeks I have been struggling with this.

Here is some background on my story because perhaps others are in a similar situation. I am not a catholic but I do go to a catholic church. Largely because my wife and her sister who stays with us are catholic. So, the last two weeks we have been hearing about the Eucharist as taught by the catholic catechism. I will not get into the arguments for or against the literal vs. metaphorical nature of this. To do so would be pointless and contrary to the purpose of this writing. Suffice to say, the priest (he was a guest speaker these two weeks and I admire him for his zealousness) took the opportunity to scoff at non-catholics for not agreeing with their traditions. Being the human being I am, it infuriated me. There are many such topics that we pick on one another about and it does no good for Jesus or for the unbeliever to see such fights within the Body.

It bothered me enough that I did some research on it. The conclusions from that did not change my mind on the matter but I was so bothered by the attacks from one christian organization toward another that I began to feel like I was an alien in my own family.

Then I was lead to two passages in the bible. First was Psalm 69. One will find quite quickly it is a prophetic psalm about Jesus. I find that God wastes nothing, though, and so it also applies to an event in David’s life where he was feeling oppressed. He had ample opportunities for that to happen. It also fit my situation and helped to make me feel better. In reading it, the writer of the song asks for relief or an answer from God, which appears to happen in the latter half of the psalm.

Second, I was directed to John 9:50. It is Jesus answer when the apostles came to him complaining that some other fellows (who weren’t the apostles) were preaching Jesus. They wanted to put a stop to it, but Jesus told them not to stop the other teachers and said, “those who aren’t against you are for you”.

I have heard of an old comic that I wish I could find a copy of. It depicts the world separated by a wall. On one side are the non-Christians, they are throwing rocks over the wall to the christian side. On the christian side of the wall, the people are throwing rocks at each other. Isn’t that what we end up doing so often?

We are admonished that we are to be one in Christ. That one person esteems one day over another, some eat meat, others do not (Romans 14:6). These aren’t important when compared to the gospel message. The message that Jesus (God in human form) came down to earth, died to pay for our sin then was raised again on the third day according to scripture.

The end result of all of this is my spiritual armor (Ephesians 6) is stronger now because of it. I suggest putting down the rocks and wielding the word the way it is intended to be wielded. Approach the lost world in unity with the idea to save as many of them as possible before time runs out.


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