Vol. 16 No. 39 | September 30, 2013
An old story is told of a man who was stranded on a deserted Pacific island for years. Finally one day a boat comes sailing into view, and the man frantically waves and draws the skipper’s attention. The boat comes near the island and the sailor gets out and greets the stranded man.
After a while the sailor asks, “What are those three huts you have here?”
“Well, that’s my house there.”
“What’s that next hut?” asks the sailor.
“I built that hut to be my church.”
“What about the other hut?”
“Oh, that’s where I used to go to church.”
The story speaks a sad truth about our commitment to and the ability, or inability, to get along with the people in our local church.
There are other stories that have less humor in them.
There are stories about churches splitting, splintering, and dividing. There are stories of congregations that manage to stay together, but are far from united and harmonious.
There are stories of churches that are filled with loving, caring and compassionate people who love each other and enjoy a vibrant fellowship and are making a significant impact in their community. Then, unfortunately, there are stories of these same congregations who end up losing members and losing their effectiveness because of a few people who decide things are not going the way they think it should and began to sow discord. The harmony disappeared. The vibrant and encouraging conversations that once were turned into tense discussions are laced with suspicion. People took sides. Accusations were made. Barriers went up.
There are stories of men, women, and children who went to these churches seeking the Lord only to be overlooked by church members who became more concerned about survival, making a point, and winning an argument than seeking the lost.
It did not have to be that way. The Kingdom would be better served if we listened and applied this teaching of Jesus:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23)
Make Jesus’ prayer your prayer. “Father, I pray for those who will believe in Jesus through the message we share that all of us may be one, Father, just as we are in Him and He is in you.”
Tom
© Copyright 2013 Tom Norvell. All rights reserved.