A Call to Unity

"Work at living in peace with everyone and work at living a holy life...Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many."  

Hebrews 12:14a &15b

For the past few years, a new fad has popped up within the church community, a fad that I believe was started without ill intention and by well-meaning believers, yet a fad that really needs to end.  This is the "I Love My Church" slogan that some churches have begun selling on shirts and other merchandise as perhaps a means of advertisement.  From the first time I saw this on a T-shirt, it made me very uncomfortable but I could not pinpoint exactly why until recently.  My pastor was preaching one Sunday and during the sermon, this very topic came up.  What he said hit the nail on the head; this slogan, this way of thinking, is causing division within the body of Christ.  All of us who are born again believers are apart of THE church, which is the church of Jesus Christ.  It was not Jesus who made denominations, those were man-made.  When we get to Heaven there will be no separate churches or denominations.  We will all worship together, all as children of God.  Obviously here on earth we have to have many different buildings where we can gather but that doesn't mean there has to be such division.  People choose to attend different churches for various reasons, some such reasons being, preferred music styles, preaching methods, and ministry availability.  None of these preferences are wrong but they are just that, preferences.  As long as the church you choose to attend is a Bible teaching church, firmly grounded in God's Word, then all the other things are just extras.  
What it all comes down to is unity within the body of Christ.  If we spend more time loving our specific church instead of loving the whole body of Christ and focusing on how great our church is due to this, that and the other, we could be opening ourselves up to thinking more highly of our church than we should.  Remember all churches are made up of fallible human beings and eventually somewhere down the line, at some point, these well-meaning humans will let us down in some capacity and we will find ourselves disgruntled and ready to change churches.  If we spend our time loving the whole body of Christ and focusing on the Lord, who is infallible and will never let us down, then no matter what  Bible believing church we are in, we will be at home with our fellow sisters and brothers in Christ.  
"Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body.  We are many parts of ONE body, and we all belong to each other." Roman 12:4-5

"Live in harmony with each other.  Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people.  And don't think you know it all!  Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone."  Romans 12:16&18

"Above all clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hears.  For as members of ONE body you are called to live in peace.  And always be thankful."  Colossians 3:14-15

Maybe instead of "I Love My Church" we could say "I Love The Church"  or "I Love God's Family".  With so much trying to cause division among Christians, let's not let this be one of those things. Let's stop trying to prove our church is better than someone else's and just be thankful that there are still churches out there preaching God's Word, touching lives, ministering to souls and meeting needs.  Find one such church and get plugged in.  If someone leaves your church for the reason of God's calling them to serve and minister elsewhere, don't get upset with them.  Be glad that God is using them for his purposes and that they are heeding His call in their life.  If they leave for more selfish reasons, still don't be upset with them, because they just need you to love them, not correct them.  That's God's job.  Let's take back unity between Christians and lessen these divisions.  Tell Satan we aren't blinded by his sneaky attempts to cause divisions and dissensions in our family of believers and that our Savior is so much stronger than his attempts to harm our family.  Let's come together as ONE body of Christ, my sisters and brothers!  
"And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father."  Colossians 3:17