Of course Christianity is divisive, and deliberately so. Genesis One begins with God revealing his creation, that is bringing it into physical being from the ideas he had planned previously. Then He calls for light. The third verb in this chapter is the word “divide;” He divides light from darkness and notes later that in no case will darkness ever overtake light completely.
Darkness has its place but it is defined. Light pushes back against Darkness.
But God is not finished with division. There follows Day from Night, Land from Sea, the separate heavens, men from women, and nations all with their own ethnicity and borders. At the end of the Bible there is the final division of the virgins with oil and those without, then lastly heaven and hell.
God’s job One – Separate
God rolls up the universe like a worn out garment and ends the entire thing. He and His creation move into eternal life. Seven thousand years, like a vanishing view in one’s rear view mirror, fades away in time and eventually is forgotten entirely.
Division gives us everything of value. Not all people are alike; if we all were the same there would be only doctors and no lawyers, housewives and no ballerinas, cooks and no one to build kitchens or farm crops. In fact one of the devil’s chief aims is to make everyone the same. Of course it doesn’t work because people hate being like everyone else. Their DNA demands they be different because they are.
God Likes Diversity
The science channel on TV informs me that there are 17 types of beetles in one state park. I don’t care one bit about beetles but God does; He likes variety. In all the talk about diversity we forget that God has created a wildly diverse planet, one that even today is thinly explored.
Complainers about Christian divisiveness are those who want to be included in God’s heavenly kingdom without going through the simple process; they want the benefits of God without meeting the regs. People are like that; most high school students would be much happier getting a diploma without having to spend one single day in class.
We’d rather play than work or sit and schmooze rather than make something valuable.
It is not merely laziness, although that is a factor. We just do not want to exert ourselves. But salvation requires from us a response. God is not a super salesman trying to force human beings to accept Him and His blessings. He lays out the plan of salvation and then says, choose. Will you divide yourself from your sin nature and take on the nature of the redeemed? If God provided for you a physical utopia would you ever bother with him? Probably not.
Teens who grow up in wealthy homes often have not faced the challenges they need to succeed in society; everything has been given to them, and life is too easy. The baby bird pecks his way out of the shell; if someone comes along to open the shell for him, he dies. The pecking made him stronger. Resistance training is what my doctor says will make me healthier. I know he is right, but the gym is two miles away and it is raining! Mankind always has an excuse.
Beware of those who call for unity if it means that you must drop your principles and adhere to theirs. Conflict, when it is civil, results in better decisions. Un-civil conflict, like a war, also resolves issues but it is a high price to pay.
God’s expectation of us personally is to divide ourselves from darkness, just as it says in Genesis One. We separate ourselves from people and situations which refuse to change, or bring light into darkness wherever it may be. That may find you ultimately unpopular with some but it protects you and your family in the long haul. I was working at a restaurant where someone was routinely robbing the till at the end of the day. I found another job and gladly left.
You can always make new friends.
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©CorneliaScottCree.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission, from this blog’s author and/or owner, is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to CorneliaScottCree.com. Thank you for cooperating in the effort to give glory to God.