Good Morning Friends,
“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be
no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and
thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there
are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’;
another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I
follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized
into the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)
Can you imagine anyone arguing over which
preacher is better? They actually did that back then, in Paul’s day. Apollos,
Cephas, Paul -- they were all great preachers. God used one to reach certain
people and another to reach other people. It’s strange how that works. Then
there was that group of people who refused to put any man on a pedestal. They
thought they were better because they refused to be known as followers of any
man. But their pride was just as bad as the other groups. Each thought their
group was better. Each thought they had been taught more correctly. Each group
looked down on the other groups as somehow inferior.
Amazing that people could be so shallow back
then. It’s a good thing people today are so much more mature. Or are we? Seems
like we still do the same thing. Some people put their current preacher on a
pedestal -- the best one around. Others put dead preachers in the place of
honor! We’ll call ourselves by the name of someone from the past and develop
pride that our group is better than those others. Of course, there’s still a
group or two that refuses to say they follow any man. But their pride still
gets in their way.
If we could just learn that it’s not about
pride. It’s not about exalting ourselves, our leader, or our group. It’s about
all of the followers of Jesus working together, each in his or her own corner
of the Kingdom. All getting along, all complementing each other’s work and
cooperating with each other to accomplish more.
That’s God vision of His Kingdom. It’s mine,
too! I hope it’s yours.
His, by Grace, Steve
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