Dear church, it has come to my attention that we are failing at being the unified body that Christ calls us to be. We are a people of war, at war with ourselves. All this nonsense of politics and religion have torn the bonds between us. But its not only that, every rift in the church is caused by various sins, sins we say wont do any harm, like a lie. We all have that one friend who asks us if they act or look okay, and we just kind of tilt our heads as they ask this while picking their toenails, and we (out of good intention and love) say "Don't you worry about a thing! you are fine!" (insert wrong answer buzzer noise here) This thing, that we say to our little buddy here is an example of the little white lie that rips us apart in the end.
God's word tells us not to bear false witness (AKA lie) so while we think we are helping our little buddy here, we are not. Little buddy, at some point in time is going to ask another person, who does not show them as much love, if they are acting or looking okay. And as little buddy picks those toenails of theirs, that person will say "Um, dude, you're in the public eye, picking your toenails. So no." Little buddy is now probably highly embarrassed and confused. Why did everyone else tell them they were fine? How could they let me do this? And as little buddy questions all this, little buddy becomes angry. How dare you lie to little buddy! When little buddy asked you, if they were acting or looking fine your response to them should have been the truth, said with gentleness and love: "Well no, little buddy, I've noticed that you pick your toenails a lot, and while picking your toenails helps you to care for yourself it isn't appropriate for you to do it in public"
Obviously, we can replace little buddy's toenail problem with anything you might need to confront about yourself or another person. The thing we need to see here is that sin, no matter what sin, whether it be lying, gossiping, lust, immorality, ect, is the big divider in a church. When someone is sinning and the church chooses not to confront it or to confront it in sin, we start to question if being surrounded by other believers is really worth it.
Is it worth our time, our tithes, our service simply to be allowed to sin and be unclean as we live our life for Jesus? I sure and heck don't think it is. If I am walking around sinning, please, let me know, confront me (gently of course) and help me through my problem. Don't avoid it or try to hide it, it needs to be exposed so that it can be fixed, once a problem is confronted and fixed, it becomes a part of our past, allowing us to move further into our identities in Christ, as children of God. If we continue to allow each other to sin we are no different from everyone else and we allow ourselves to form clicks based on these sins. We allow ourselves to be pulled into the gossip crew where we get to talk about how nasty it is for little buddy to pick their toenails behind their back. We get into the liars club where all we want to do is make everyone happy and never see a sad face. And it causes rifts.
The rifts in the church, are huge. People avoid each other because they are too busy analyzing the specks in everyone else's eye but their own. Its time to confront these rifts, and the sin that is underlying them. It is time for us to come together, as this nation faces its fear of the future. People outside of the church need to see the unified body of Christ. They need to see the hands, feet, heart, eyes, arms, legs and mouth. Not just the mouth, not just the hands, but the body or Christ. They need to see the church as a place of nothing but love and unity, but before they can see that in us, we must confront our sins and put our bondage behind us.
Be unified, and be holy. Because that is what the lord calls us to be.
Sincerely,
Chloe Wheeler,
one of many members in the body of Christ.
