Separation anxiety

Division Intensifies

As we’ve witnessed over the last few years, division is the easy road to destruction.

You don’t need a master plan; for centuries, those in charge understood that if you divide, you can conquer.

Our nation is divided, and to the casual observer, it might look as though the separation is unrepairable.

Perhaps repair is not what our creator intends?

Maybe He has a plan to separate the sheep from the goats, what is good from what is evil.

I don’t know.

I can only wonder.

Many love to think of Jesus as a coalition builder.

We tend to put our own biases and beliefs on Jesus.

It’s all there in His word, but Christians are cherry-pickers.

Find a verse that words, and use it to back up your “feelings.”

In His word, Jesus says He came to divide.

God divides what is described in biblical terms as the wheat (healthy seed) from the chaff (protective coating no longer needed) and the tares (weeds that will eventually destroy).

Division is not always a bad thing.

But it’s also disconcerting and very uncomfortable.

In the harvest of wheat, the chaff protects the seed, but when it is no longer needed, it is separated so the seed can grow. Without that division, the seed will die.

Tares are also a threat to the seed.

They are weeds that grow among the wheat.

If ignored, the weeds take over.

The latest division appearing on my social media is among Christians.

Scriptures are easily twisted to support different points of view.

Christians pull verses that support their bias, and choose NOT to see it any other way.

Even Satan knows scripture and is a master at manipulating it to serve his purpose.

Christians are easy prey.

And even easier to divide.

God cares about right and wrong.

Can we agree on that?

What is right and what is wrong is where we get messed up.

We have a group of people who focus only on the compassionate Jesus, not the warrior, and vice versa.

What we forget is that God chooses knuckleheads, impulsive, arrogant fools to do His work.

Look in the mirror if you don’t believe me.

We expect perfection when God understands human frailty.

He loved King David, it says in His word, and David was a womanizer and a murderer.

The part we forget is that He, like you and me, was also forgiven and chosen by God.

Forgiveness is a gift and must be asked for.

Repentance is required.

Perhaps division is warranted.

To perfect something, like gold, for instance, the liquid must be heated to an extreme temperature so that the dross, the unclean, can rise to the top and be scraped off.

Perhaps God is perfecting His people.

The word says many will be called, but few will answer.

Don’t expect a crowd.

The road is narrow and growing smaller each day.