Devotion - Tuesday, September 20

I wrote yesterday of the early divisions in the Church.  Paul and Barnabas decide to go their separate ways.  While division in the Church is always a cause for concern, it seems not to have hampered them.  Look at what the Church became in just a few short years!

Those verses and that division came to mind yesterday as I sat with a young woman from a Columbia area congregation.  Her home church has decided to continue its ministry with refugees, even given the realities of political life in South Carolina.  As a result of this congregation's actions, some have chosen to separate themselves.

I do know and appreciate that the issue of welcoming refuges is divisive.  Please forgive me - but it ought not to be.  Forgive me, if this example hits too close to home for you.  The lesson I want to draw is to point out that following where Jesus leads us will sometimes lead to division.  Doing what Christ has put in our hearts will set us at odds.

When we divide, we should never belittle the other or attempt to shame them.  But we must speak up for the Word of God, active in our lives.  And when speaking causes us to move down differing paths, so be it.  As was true in Acts 15, not all such divisions mean a lessening of the witness to Jesus.  They may actually aid in the on going discussions of what it is that Christ is calling his servants to think and to do.