The opportunity to know God is the greatest invitation that has ever been given in the history of mankind. For those who have a passion to learn about him and serve him, we will never be able to tell him enough how much we love and appreciate his love, grace and endless mercy.
There are supposedly more than 2 billion people on our planet who claim to be associated with the Christian faith, and you would think that every person within this family would be united in their love for God and one another. Sadly, this is not the case. When we study religious history and see the numerous groups that aggressively oppose each other, it leaves us with many questions about how so many people can serve the same God and yet be so divided.
Have you noticed when researching the many opinions of religiosity, each group believes its beliefs are right and everyone else is wrong? I grew up in a church like this and was disheartened at how doctrines, legalistic traditions and rituals cause hatred and hostility among those who claim to be disciples of God. This gives me a headache because no one understands everything, and the only perfect person who ever lived was Jesus.
It’s arrogance and the desire for control that create strife. Doing things a certain way is not as important as following his way. To be blunt, unless we are walking in the attributes and character of Christ, our views matter very little. If we are more concerned about a doctrine than we are about being filled with God’s love, we have already missed the point. As 1 Corinthians 13:2 reminds us, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”
I write about the Christian life, and one of the strange realities is that many who claim to know God are uncomfortable expressing their love to him, they refuse to study his word and do not want to talk about taking up their cross. However, they love to argue about doctrines and how everyone else is deceived.