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Where Division Comes To Die

It was the summer before Matthew’s senior year of high school when Peggy and I took him on a college visit to the University of Chicago. Together with other prospective students and their parents, we gathered in an auditorium for a Q&A session with a panel of UChicago undergrads. At one point in the open, positive exchange, a young guest asked, “Why should I not come here?” One of the panelists answered perhaps a bit too quickly, “We sometimes call this ‘the place where fun comes to die,’” he replied, adding, “The library is full on Friday night.” That’s all Matthew needed to hear. He enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis.

Had the young panelist paused momentarily, he might have made his point more palatably, e.g., “The hard work you put in at a university of this caliber will position you to excel in your professional career.” That said, let’s apply his more earthy approach in our study of Christian unity. For our overflowing life in Christ, our eternal oneness in Him, must be the place where division comes to die. What might this look like? The Scriptures show us.

Regarding our persecutors. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”2 Be the place where division comes to die.

Regarding our oppressors. “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”3 Be the place where division comes to die.

Regarding our offenders. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. . . If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”4 Be the place where division comes to die.

Regarding our relationships. “If you are offering your gift [to God] and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift . . . and go. First be reconciled to your brother.”5 Be the place where division comes to die.

Regarding situational differences. “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.”6 Be the place where division comes to die.

Regarding earthly government. “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”7 Be the place where division comes to die.

Regarding others’ flaws. “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”8 Be the place where division comes to die.

Father, when we were separated from You, You brought us near to You by the blood of Christ.9 May we, in Him, be vessels of unity and overcomers of division today. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Today’s post augments our “unity series,” which ran weekly from February 26 through June 13.
2 Matthew 5:44-45 ESV
3 Matthew 5:41 ESV
4 Romans 12:17-18 NIV
5 Matthew 5:23-24 ESV
6 Romans 12:16 NIV
7 1 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV
8 Colossians 3:13 NLT
9 Ephesians 2:12-13

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God Turns Our Negatives into His Positives

“How am I going to answer their question about my GPA?” the college senior sighed. As his job interview drew steadily nearer, Ben1 now fretted openly about his good-but-not-great transcript. “Just turn the negative into a positive,” chimed my wife Peggy, optimistically. “How am I going to do that?” he skeptically rejoined. “Just tell him since you played college sports and worked full time while also taking a full class load, you weren’t always able to adequately prepare for exams. A better demonstration is that you passed three CPA exams on your first try and since passed the last one.” It was Ben who broke the silence that ensued, “Can you say that again? I want to write that down.”

Sometimes we let our apparent situation — and the past experiences that led us there — define who we are and obscure our trust in God. Absent understanding, doubt stymies confidence, perhaps, or despair stifles hope. But how many times must God redeem our past before we rest in Him today and trust Him for tomorrow? When Joseph’s brothers feared his retribution for their mistreatment of him, he pointed them to God’s larger purpose: “You intended to harm me,” he said, “but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”2 And when Jesus’ disciples saw Him walking on the water toward them, they cried out in fear. “But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.’”3 We regard circumstances in our finite way, but God rules over them in Sovereignty and ultimately for His glory. “And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”4

How has God acted in your life? How has He turned your failures into His glory? When you look back today, can you see His ongoing transformational work in you? If so, is He not praiseworthy? Remember where you were when God met you, chose you, called you, drew you, saved you, liberated you, and raised you from death to life. What does His action speak to us — perpetual blame and condemnation, or eternal acceptance as His adopted sons and daughters? In His great mercy, God turns our negatives into His positives. For “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”5

Say that again; write that down.

Epilogue. When asked about his GPA in the interview, Ben replied with his readied response. “That’s a really good answer,” marveled his questioner. Ben got the job.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!6 In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 This name is changed for privacy purposes.
2 Genesis 50:20 NIV
3 Matthew 14:27 ESV
4 Matthew 14:33 ESV
5 Romans 8:28 NASB
6 Psalm 139:23-24 ESV

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A Morsel of Bread and a Sip of Wine

For two people in my life, both of whom have passed on from here, I keep a token remembrance. A small screwdriver that once belonged to my father now dangles from my keyring wherever I go. It is tempered steel, much like my childhood image of my dad. It is useful to me as it was to him, and it often brings him to mind. On our bedroom wall hangs a watercolor painting that my mother began but never finished. Its feminine flair captures her elegance, and its simplicity displays her quiet confidence and subtle taste. It reflects her as much as any self-portrait could, or so it seems to me.

Of all the reminders Jesus could have left behind, vast or simple, He specifically chose these: a loaf of bread and a cup of wine. In what would be His “last supper” here on Earth, Jesus gave bread to His disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”1 He then offered them wine, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”2 So what might a morsel of bread and a sip of wine — this body and blood — speak to us as we partake of them together as the people of Christ?

God engages us at great length. He made us in His image, then came to us in ours. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . All things were made through him . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”3

God acts with great purpose. “When the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.”4

God loves us at great cost. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”5

God lives in us forever. “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.”6

God purifies us completely. In Levitucus God declared, “The life of a creature is in the blood . . . it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”7 Not just any blood, but only that of the Creator — “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”8

Yes, Lord. Thank You for the bread and the wine, Your body and blood. We remember; we believe; we partake. For in Christ we live, and in Him we pray. Amen.

1 Luke 22:19 ESV (emphasis added)
2 1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV (emphasis added)
3 John 1:1-3, 14 ESV
4 Galatians 4:4-5 NLT
5 1 John 4:10 NIV
6 1 John 4:15
7 Leviticus 17:11 NIV
8 1 John 1:7 NIV