Friday, March 12, 2010

I Corinthians 1:10

I Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (KJV)

(NIV) I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Rob and I have been married for thirty-seven years as of Wednesday this week and I can say that we have had very few arguments in those thirty-seven years. After reading the Our Daily Bread devotion for today, I think I know why we have been able to have so few arguments.

The Our Daily Bread devotion focused on the same verse as above and was titled “United Goal.” I think Rob and I have a united goal of trying to please and keep each other happy. I don’t think it hurts, too, that I stand by the scripture in Ephesians 5:22 that tells wives to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. And if you know me at all, you know that I submit, but that doesn’t mean I won’t discuss the topic.

In our church, we also may have some “discussions” about ways to do things in the church, and we might not always agree. However, as long as we keep our goal in the forefront, these discussions are not so important and should not cause us to have divisions as the Corinthian church was experiencing. So what is that goal that should keep us unified? It is, of course, that the message of Jesus Christ be continually shared and demonstrated to others that others might also become believers and become residents of Heaven some day.

We might not even always agree on every church doctrinal feature. However, we must not let these details divide us so that we get pulled away from our goal. It occurs to me that these details that we may disagree on may be one of Satan’s greatest devices to distract us from focusing on the message that Jesus wants us to tell – our great common goal. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s determine that nothing would sway us from serving and glorifying our Saviour and Lord – the One who died for you and me. Let’s have a united goal and keep our eyes focused on it. As it says in our verse today, “I appeal to you…that you agree with one another that there be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

That united goal just might help your marriage too!