Stand Together

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

STAND TOGETHER

1 Cor 1:10-12

10 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. 11 My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."

NIV

There have been divisions in the body of Christ since the beginning of what we call the church. There are still divisions, which is why we have to many different denominations today. Sure most of them consider themselves followers of Christ rather than Paul, Apollos, or Peter, but still quarrel about so much of the small stuff. How do we agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among us and that we all be perfectly united in mind and thought? It would even appear within the same church there is disagreements about how things are done, or what exactly is the right way to believe. We need to get past all the small stuff and come to terms with the simple fact that we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. We need to come to agreement that everything else is non-essential in the salvation of our souls. Now, how we think we should live in a manner that is pleasing to God is a very personal matter. There are all sorts of ideas as to what the scripture is declaring regarding the way we should behave, but those are not essential enough to divide us. We should not be judging the other, nor should we condemn each other. We should make every effort to live in peace with all men. That would require agreeing that Jesus is the only way to get to heaven and that the rest is just the rest. If any of the other stuff was included in the requirement for salvation, than God would have told us that we needed to be born again and. But He did not; He simply said that He loved us so much that He sent His Son and that whosoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Can’t we just all agree on that? It is not Jesus and something else. That is the point here; we cannot allow Satan to divide us. God has told us that a house divide cannot stand, and that is the scheme of Satan to fall the house of God, us. Let us stand together.