WHY DO CHRISTIANS FIGHT SO MUCH?

JOHN 13:34-35 NKJ
34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Instead of being known for love, Christians are more likely to be known for disagreements and fighting with other Christians.

Why?

Those who fight are displaying their immaturity. Children can be expected to squabble over insignificant things, but adults should not.

Yet even Christian leaders often fight with other Christian leaders.

It is the devil's strategy to get believers in strife because it opens the door to him. Do you really want to open the door to the devil?

JAMES 3:16 KJV
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

God allows us to face the temptation of strife so we can overcome and learn to walk in love. We are continually given the opportunity to walk in love.

God's primary concern now is preparing us to inhabit eternity with Him. His plan is to make us like Jesus (Romans 8:29). To become like Jesus, we must learn to resist the temptation to not walk in love.

SAY THIS: With God's help, I will walk in love. I refuse to fight and be in strife with other Christians.

RESOLVE TO STAND OUT

"But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way" (Daniel 1:8, NIV).

The people of Judah were led into exile in captivity because of their disobedience to God. The temple of God and the city of Jerusalem ? the prides of Israel ? were destroyed. The self-esteem of the people was dented. They were no longer a nation free of external forces. In fact, they were now captives in a foreign land. They could not worship their God in the way they preferred, and their children were now slaves that were serving their captors.

In spite of these predicaments, Daniel and his colleagues resolved to distinguish themselves in that foreign land in not defiling themselves with things that seemed ordinary but that could make them be far from their God.

These four Jewish young men were not like many people today that are ready to do anything that is in vogue. They resolved to stand out, and God rewarded them with prestige and position of authority in that land of captivity.

Are you also ready to resolve to stand out in this depraved world? The Bible says, "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong" (Exodus 23:2, NIV). Resolve to stand out for God in refusing to do even those seeming good things but that can tarnish the image of God in you. Joshua told the people of Israel, "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15, NIV).

Resolve to stand out for God!

Pastor Bayo Afolaranmi

A Completed Sacrifice

"And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering: and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him." (Leviticus 1:4)

If by that laying on of his hand the bullock became the offerer's sacrifice, how much more shall Jesus become ours by the laying on of the hand of faith? If a bullock could be accepted for him to make atonement for him, how much more shall the LORD Jesus be our full and all-sufficient propitiation?

Some may argue with the great truth of substitution; but as for us, it is our hope, our joy, our boast, our all. Jesus is accepted for us to make atonement for us, and we are "accepted in the Beloved." Today, lay your hand on the LORD's completed sacrifice, that by accepting it you may obtain the benefit of it. If you have done it before, do it again. If you have never done so, put out your hand now. Jesus is yours now if you will have Him. Lean on Him -- lean hard on Him -- and He is yours without a doubt; you are reconciled to God, your sins are blotted out, and you are the LORD's.

ON PRAYER

"Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbor on our knees." Charles Brent

CONSIDER

"You will invest your life in something, or you will throw it away on nothing." Haddon Robinson