When I was little I was at the pool with my sister and her friends. I remember that sister had an inflatable bed that she loved, but one of her friends managed to pop it. That friend told me first and in an effort to keep my sister happy I knew if I would take the blame her pool day would not be ruined so I told her I did it and the day went on. That moment stuck with me that my intuition was to do whatever it took to keep others at peace. Now it’s a silly story where I even lied in the moment; but, that intuition has seemed to leave me as I got older and in middle or high school. Anytime I was in the wrong I suddenly did whatever it took to take that blame off of me and place it on someone else. Romans 14:19 Paul writes “ “ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
That verse seems so simple in that we just need to be peaceful with one another. From what I have seen in my life and others is that the devil knows the exact ways to divide us. There are the clear larger divisions people put over our unity in God like politics, but I believe there are much subtler divisions that really impact us. When a worship song does not go or sound how we like, when the message is not exactly to our liking, when someone messes up in any way or just appears different than us and we hold a grudge against them. There are so many subtle things that lead me to not be as bold in my faith with others, to not include others in certain events, to pick and choose who I invested in. I wonder what the church would look like if we thought of our personal list that for whatever reason are just simple things that get to us and that we have used to look at others in the church differently. I then wonder if we took that to God and pushed ourselves to push out those small things that divide our opinions and remain at peace with one another that we are all children of the living God!