His Encouragement #29

Happy Thursday! I am blessed to be a part of a group of bloggers who feel led to share a bit of encouragement each week from the Bible. We recognize that the source of our peace, strength, and security in this life comes from Jesus, and we aim to share that with our readers. Plus, when Thursday comes around, we can all use a little encouragement right? I hope that this posting blesses you and that you find strength and peace in the Lord today ❤

This week it’s on my heart to share:

Knowing their thoughts, he told them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.

~Luke 11:17

The context of the verse in the passage is that the pharisees were trying to say that Jesus was commanding the demons out of people with the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons. Jesus explains how illogical that thinking is.

Bare with me as I share what this passage has put on my heart this week, as it’s relevant to the passage but a bit of a different setting. Luke 11:17 is used in reference to the demons, but it can most certainly be used in other scenarios. Jesus speaks a great deal about the need for unity among believers and for very good reason. There is a lot of animosity towards God in the world today. Unfortunately there is also a great deal of disunity and disagreement amongst believers and the world is able to see that. But how do we expect the world to trust the Bible if Christians themselves argue with each other over what it says?

⁴ For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

~1 Cor 3:4-6

While there are many things that can be take from this, it’s important to realize that as Christians we believe and stand on God’s word and not a specific teacher of it. God’s Word itself should be our ultimate authority. Now, it’s not to say that we can’t have teachers that we appreciate and gravitate towards in study, but what I’m saying is that the interpretation of man is fallible. This may surprise some to hear, but we will never be able to fully comprehend God and His ways. Especially on this side of heaven, there are things that have been revealed to us but only in part, and we are not meant to fully understand them yet. For example, the knowledge that God is sovereign and yet we have free will. If we believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, then we have to accept the fact that both exist. But when we cling to a certain part of scripture and discredit other believers because they don’t hold the same exact interpretation, we are essentially creating division in the kingdom. Please note, that I’m not speaking about every single disagreement that people have, and I’ll try my best to explain.

There are parts of scripture that are absolute and the interpretation cannot be moved on. I am not speaking about those issues. A friend of my husband and mine is a pastor at an Evangelical Free church. Their motto when it comes to doctrine is “major on the majors, and minor on the minors.” I feel that’s an incredible and accurate statement to make. I have sat in church and heard pastors speak poorly of other churches in the area for not holding all of the same beliefs, but often those beliefs are not essential points to salvation. Unfortunately the community I live in is very big into the “Calvinism vs Arminianism” debate–to an unhealthy point. Never in my life have I felt so pressured to choose between two men instead of what I believe God’s Word says. It often makes me think of the passage above from 1 Corinthians.

I’m not saying that everyone will ever agree 100% on the interpretation of scripture on this side of heaven. Instead what I am saying is that we need to “major on the majors and minor on the minors.” It’s okay if we don’t agree on all interpretation with other believers as long as those interpretations are not clearly anti-biblical. We want the world to see us as a united body for Christ and not a divided body of pharisees and hypocrites. If we want to further God’s Kingdom, then we need to strive for unity with our fellow believers. There aren’t separate churches in heaven. There isn’t a heaven for Baptists and a separate heaven for Methodists. There are pieces that we will all have wrong, and won’t understand until Heaven. No one person in this life fully understands God. We aren’t supposed to. Instead, we are to seek Him and learn more of Him and share Him with the world.

So with this, my hope is to encourage unity this week. It’s okay to not agree 100% with others on everything, but not everything is worthy of creating division. As Christians we should be coming together united and with purpose to reach the world for Christ.

This week I’m ending with the song “Make us One” by Evan Wickham. I hope you take a moment to listen to it and meditate on the truth it reveals. A body not united can’t function. Christ is our unity and that should be our focus.

Now, it’s your turn!

What Biblical verse is encouraging you today?

And, check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Nicole @ Christian Fiction Girl

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Jenny @ Author Jenny Lynn

Gina @ Stories By Gina

If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole