Some time ago, I posed a question – What is the most difficult thing about living a Christian life?
I was surprised to see a common thread in the responses. In my non-scientific informal survey, the most difficult thing we face as believers is … other believers.
We are each other’s biggest difficulty. How does that happen?
We get satisfied.
We lose grace.
We have more self-righteousness than Christ’s righteousness.
We become prima donnas, more concerned about being served than serving Christ or others.
We forget what were saved from.
We don’t grasp that we are fellow soldiers and not empire builders.
We prize our agenda above the Kingdom.
Or a host of other possibilities…
It reminds me of a poem my husband heard his pastor quote –
To live above with saints we love,
O, that will be glory.
To live below with saints we know…
Now, that’s a different story.
In the hours before Jesus’ crucifixion, He prayed that we would be one. Not that we would be the same, but that we would be united. Jesus knew all about our foibles when He saved us, and He intended for us put those to work for Him.
His own disciples wrestled with this. Simon the zealot belonged to a political party sworn to assassinate guys like Matthew for being Roman collaborators. They worked it out because they bought into a greater vision.
What will it take for us to do the same?
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Psalm 133:1