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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2004 Why Can’t We all Agree about This? |
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FRONTLINE DEVOTION FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2004, byFritz Foltz
Bible text:
Acts 18:23-19:12
I imagine you get as frustrated as I do with all those denominations out there
dividing the Body of Christ. How in the world can we unite the world, if we
cannot even get our own act together? This confusion often leads us to yearn for
the good old days, good old days that never existed, not even in the first
Church.
We have already seen Gentile and Jewish Christians slug it out in Acts. You can
imagine the fireworks when Kosher Jews refused to participate in a Communion
meal with those who did not observe the traditional purity laws. You can’t get
much closer to the heart of the faith than with that disagreement.
In today’s passage we see another division close to the heart of the faith
that sometimes gets by us: those who followed Jesus who were baptized by John
the Baptist and those who followed Jesus who were baptized by an apostle after
Pentecost. The conflict must have been tough as we see Apollos leading a group
in Corinth that rivaled the ones loyal to Peter and Paul. And 12 people in the
church at Ephesus would be a pretty large group in that small congregation. Citing Jesus would not be much help, because it seems he never baptized anybody.
We seem to be reading about the end of the dispute when baptism as a means of
grace by which God helps us becomes the norm rather than baptism as a commitment
to live the moral life by our own efforts. Because the story is told by the
winning side, it seems quite natural. All the harsh words, the stress, the
anger, and the confusion are things of the past. They are left behind as people
come together.
All of this should not lead us to become complacent about our many
denominations. Dividing the Body of Christ is always a sin. It points out once
more that we do not live in the Kingdom yet. Our sin still creates problems. We
must continually work toward resolving our disagreements, confident that we
shall be one in the future.
That goes for our personal differences as well. Oh how we all wish we could
agree on everything. It would prevent so many heartaches. But it is not going to
happen until the Kingdom comes. Until then we have to work together, listen
careful to the position of the other side, try to be as understanding as
possible, and pray that God will help us as he promised in our baptisms. And
perhaps it helps a little to constantly remember when we do resolve our
differences, all the heartaches will soon be forgotten.
Let us pray: Father, come among us to overcome our differences. Bring us
together as we work with you to establish the kingdom. Bring unity in our
congregations, in the catholic church, in our world, our homes, and our own
hearts. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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