Unity and Love? Or Battle and Division?

Unity was not our goal…

We each wore our mental armor even though the battle was only conversational.

Neither of us wanted to be wounded by the other’s point of view.

We sat in lawn chairs across the yard from the rest of the family.  It was a warm summer day with a wind that rustled the leaves.

Time seemed to have stopped. I almost fell asleep.

But then we started to talk. With every sentence we each got more and more excited. Neither of us could wait for the other to pause so we could blurt out our own thoughts.

Suddenly I noticed that the conversation on the other side of the yard had stopped and everyone was staring at us.

What were we talking about?The Bible.  God.  Our beliefs.

I’d like to tell you that the conversation was filled with words of love and Grace … that our hearts and minds soared as we shared our beliefs.

But that would not be true.

We had very different beliefs. We were each convinced that the other person was wrong.  We were each eager to correct the error of our “opponent’s” thinking.

We were following that familiar Bible verse.  You know the one:

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you yell at one another.”

Oh.  That’s not the way it goes, is it?

 “A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ~ John 13: 34-35

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” ~ 1 Peter 3:8

Dear God, thank you that you love us even when we do a terrible job of being your disciples.  Guide us always closer to you …