NISAN 9
Unity
“… until we all come to the unity of the
BELIEF …” (Eph 4:11, 13, emphasis mine)
When I talk about the westernized church system, I am including all the many different denominations that
profess to be ‘Christian’, which number in the thousands. And there seems to be more being added almost
on a daily basis[1]. Differences in religious beliefs appears to
be one of the greatest motivations for war and enmity throughout all of the
ages.
Having said that, the war between Islam
and those not of the Muslim faith pre-dates the time of Yeshua, all the way
back to Jacob and Esau. Jihad is
an important part of the Muslim doctrine, as is death to any ‘non-believers’. Ireland has also been the home of an on-going
religious and political war – the longest in the history of the ‘Christian
church’[2]. Protestants against Catholics, and vice
versa, it seems that none of them can doctrinally agree, and probably never
will. However, according to our opening
verses, agreeing doctrinally is relatively unimportant; we are to unite
according to our emunah, our trust,
belief, and faith.
We can agree that we believe in the Elohim
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He
is the eternal, everlasting, and only true
God. We can also agree in the belief
that He is the Creator of everything
there is, and that His Word is absolute
truth. We can unite in our agreement of
our Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth, and His finished work of redemption. And then we can come into agreement
concerning the future day of reckoning of all
mankind, a day that is fast approaching.
It is not up to us, individually, to try
to change someone’s doctrine, one that they have believed for their
entire lives is the correct
one. That is not our job
description. Should someone ask, we
should be able to answer – gently, kindly, and with love – why we believe the
way that we do (see Col 4:5-6). We are called to be His light to a lost and dying world, and if it is at all possible,
“let us pursue the things
of peace, and the things for building up one another” (Rom 14:19).
©2021
[1] http://infomory.com/numbers/number-of-christian-denominations/
[2] https://whistlinginthewind.org/2012/05/23/religion-as-a-cause-of-war-in-ireland/
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