This is a topic I’ll probably address more than once. There’s a lot on my mind that I’ll use this space to try and sort out. In John 17 Jesus prayed that His followers would “be one, even as You and I are One”. Oh how far have we fallen from that deep desire of our Lord! Why, when He commanded us so clearly, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you.” And He continued, saying “By this will all men know you are My disciples - IF you have love one for another.” Why then the divisions? Why then the acrimony? Why the separation between men who should love each other as brothers?Perhaps it’s because we love our opinions more than we love our Savior. Perhaps we love our own “freedom” while denying freedom to our fellow man. After all, none of us is perfect. Each of us has our own errors. Why not then extend to one another the freedom to be wrong? Can we not reason together without clubbing each other? Can we not gather together in the Name of Christ without trying to exalt our own opinions over His desire for unity amongst His disciples?I think it is possible. If we will humble ourselves. It has been my pleasure to get to know many men from different denominations. Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Charismatics, Church of Christ, Christian Church and many more. And it has been my pleasure to see many of them truly fellowship together - in spite of “serious” doctrinal differences. This has happened because in the times of fellowship matters they have in common have taken precedence over matters which differentiate them from each other. Is this not the secret? To focus on commonality rather than major on differences? We have far more in common with each other if we truly love The Creator and His revealed Word in the Bible. In fact, the only groups I can REALLY feel justified in rejecting are those who reject Jesus the Christ as the only Mediator between God and man, or who reject His Divinity and/or His Word - the Bible. I’m not talking about seeing eye to eye on each and every interpretation of God’s Word, I’m talking about seeing eye to eye on the fact that the Bible is our only source of solid truth for matters of faith and practice and that Jesus the Christ is the only Hope of man for resolving the problem of our separation from our God due to our sin.
So, why not seek unity as The Christ so desired? Are our own petty opinions of more worth than His desire?