I understand these are tough teachings to internalize. We like to sometimes breeze by them when we read; maybe hope we do not have to actually work on their application. I know it is hard to turn that other cheek beloved. I know it hurts more when the offense comes from within the church itself. But there is more at stake than our personal feelings. Jesus explains in the key verses why unity is so important:
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17: 23
If you are hurt and holding something against a brother or sister than it affects your witness for Christ. If you spread disunity in the body you are actively working against the plan of God. It is the enemy that wants us fighting amongst ourselves because it prevents us from be effective for Christ. We were designed to work together in harmony:
But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 1Corinthians 12: 18-26
Take note of the truths in these verses beloved. God has arranged all the parts of His body of believers. You cannot say that you do not need your brother or sister. There should be no division in the body and we should have equal concern for each other. When one part suffers, we all suffer.
Bitterness and resentment are a poison running through your veins. It will eventually consume you if not resolved. Usually, the pattern then is that the poison wants to spread; misery loves company. Instead of sowing seeds of the love of Christ we can start sowing seeds of disunity. We see it every day in the church. Gossip starts, even possibly with good intention, but ends up as malicious slander. James warns us against such slander:
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. James 4: 11 God has a work for us to do beloved. There is a lost and dying world that is living in the same darkness Christ saved us from. He did not save us to bicker and divide ourselves against each other. I understand that it is a difficult teaching to accept that your hurt may not be as important as you thought. In the light of what Christ has done and wants to continue to do in the lives of people everywhere, it just isn't. When we look at the intimate moment of prayer to the Father, Jesus Christ did not pray that His people have a sense of faux righteousness. He did not pray that we hold onto our hurts and spread it through the body. He prayed for unity because it is only together can the body be truly effective for the Kingdom work He has for it to do. In his letter to the church at
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4: 31-32
Christ forgave you without any conditions. He forgave you without any "buts". Forgiveness means forgetting also. It means no resentment. It means you hold nothing against the person and you speak nothing against the person. We read things like seven time seventy and we think it is just a cute catch phrase. It is not. That is exactly what Jesus meant. Why? Because I can guarantee that no matter how much someone has hurt me, I have hurt God more with my rebellion and sin. No matter how many times I have to forgive someone I can guarantee that God has had to forgive me more times and for more egregious offenses. By refusing to forgive, or by dressing the words of forgiveness up in the actions of disunity, I am essentially saying that my hurt is stronger in me than Christ is in me. God help me if I ever get to the point that anything is stronger in me than Jesus Christ.
