One of my
favorite shows to watch is a game show called, Family Feud. The game pins families against each other in
order to have a chance to play for $20,000.
Players have to figure out how one hundred people surveyed would answer
a specific question. If a player gets an
answer wrong, he/she receives a strike.
If the family as a whole gets three strikes, the other family has a
chance to steal and win the points if they get it right. If they get it wrong, the points are awarded
to the original family. The feud goes
back and forth until a family scores three hundred points.
Family Feud is a
fun game show to watch, but in real life, family feuds are miserable. Hurtful. Painful. And, harmful.
It rips apart relationships and destroys the unity in which God so
desperately desires for every one of his children.
Family feuds
derive from a selfishness that lies deep within the heart of those
feuding. James says it best when he
writes, “Where do you think all these appalling
wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They
come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside
yourselves.” James
4:1 (MSG) The unity of a family cannot exist unless everyone in the family is willing
to lay aside his or her selfish opinions and be willing to be open-minded to
what the others are feeling and saying.
One of the most heated arguments in Scripture is when the
Apostle Paul and his good friend Barnabas got into a feud over Barnabas wanting his cousin,
John to go on the trip with them. Paul was
adamantly opposed due to John leaving him on another trip. Acts
15 records their conversation: After a few days of this,
Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and
visit all our friends in each of the towns where we preached the Word of God.
Let’s see how they’re doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John
along, the John nicknamed Mark. But Paul wouldn’t have him; he wasn’t about to
take along a quitter who, as soon as the going got tough, had jumped ship on
them in Pamphylia. Tempers flared, and they ended up going their separate ways:
Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus; Paul chose Silas and, offered up by
their friends to the grace of the Master, went to Syria and Cilicia to build up
muscle and sinew in those congregations. (MSG) Though the argument was heated, it never
distracted from the ministry as a whole, there was no disruption in the family
of God, and Paul and Barnabas never allowed their disagreements to become so
bitter that it put a negative mark on Jesus’ church.
Christ church must be a
place where unity exists without waver and the spirit of unconditional love
permeates the hearts of every believer.
The Psalmist said, “How
wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony!” Psalm 133:1 (TLB) Family feuds will subside when
love leads the way and records are destroyed and where patience keeps company
with kindness and demands are not made out of the desire to control.
God is calling each of us to love without reserve. Jesus said to forgive. The Spirit will enable each of us to be kind,
gentle and good to one another. Let it
be said that Jesus’ church loves, protects, supports and Family Feud is just a
game show!
Remember, Be God Controlled!
Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment