Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel…” (Philippians 1:27, 28).
Marine Corps General Chesty Puller once mused that the Korean conflict was a “lousy war,” but, “It’s the only one we’ve got.”
I think some of us who call ourselves Christians live with that mentality: the only conflict we can find is with our brothers and sisters. It’s a “lousy war,” but it’s the only one we’ve got! My goodness! What would we do without it?
What can we say about our church spats, splits and the splendid isolation into which we afterward withdraw? Instead of striving together for the faith, we have wasted ourselves in striving against one another, unable to detect the difference between our enemies and those whom Jesus calls our brothers and sisters.
Instead of bearing our siblings’ burdens we have become their accusers, finding fault and forgetting the infinite love of our Father who comes in tenderness and forgiveness to correct all his children in due time. Is it any wonder that our non–Christian neighbors no longer take us seriously? Can they be blamed?
Polycarp of Smyrna, writing to the Philippians church one–hundred years after Paul wrote his letter said, “What means this word ‘only,’ but that this (standing together) and naught else is the thing we should seek? (Epistle to the Philippians). We must stand together for the sake of the gospel
for, as Jesus said, the world will know we’re Christians by our love.
David Roper
3.6.21
