What should Christians fight about with each other?
What are some subjects that Christians should fight about? The answer is important to understand in regard to discipleship, starting small groups and starting churches – especially when different Christian groups interact with each other.
The following are some essential Christian beliefs:
There is one God. He is both one essence and three persons at the same time – He is a triune God, at the same time Father, Son and Holy Spirit .
God is good, and He is a rewarder of those who seek him.
6 Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6 WEB
Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh .
Jesus was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit and is therefore both God and man.
He died on a cross for all of our sins, and our individual, eternal forgiveness can only come if we ask Jesus Christ the Messiah to be our Lord and Savior.
He rose again on the third day to give us new life.
If we repent of our sins and turn to Jesus Christ the Messiah as our Lord and Savior, receiving the gift of righteousness, we will be born again, know God, and be with Him forever.
Jesus is the only way to salvation , and a Christian cannot follow Jesus and another belief system, person or religion – it is an exclusive relationship. No other religion means that we will follow and obey Him as our sole source of salvation. We will follow no other way of approaching or knowing God or having eternal life in heaven.
Jesus Christ is coming again and will come and get living Christians, resurrect dead Christians, give us new bodies, marry His bride, the church, and spend eternity with us.
The above beliefs unify Christians, and form the basis for our relationship with God, and thereby with each other. There are many other beliefs and doctrines, all of which are important but non-essential for unity in Christ. Those non-essential things should not be fought over — there can and will be disagreement, but it can be discussed without fighting. The essentials are what make us Christian, and are accepted by Christians, so fighting over them is not even needed.
From the above, it can be seen that Christians can disagree but not fight — or at least should not. John 13:35 indicates that non-Christians will know that Christians follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by the way that we love one another.
The world is watching us. When I was a non-Christian, I watched Christians, and most did not love each other well. They fought over almost anything. They did not fully support each other, much less love one another. I saw no reason to believe their claims about Jesus. However, when I saw Christian love truly expressed — not to me but to fellow Christians, I finally saw credible evidence for their claims.
If Christians are going to have a credible witness to those watching, we must not only stop useless arguments and in-fighting, we should replace our bickering with the kind of love that was and is being shown to us by Jesus our Lord.
Keywords: Love, fighting, credible witness
How well are we loving?
Two things about love — it is active and it is intentional.
While Christians are called to love everyone, we are not called to relate to everyone. This truth brings up some key questions. Are we relating to the ones we are supposed to be relating to? Do we need to add or subtract people? Even entire people groups? Both adding and subtracting need to be done with wisdom and in a biblical way.
Another set of questions surround how we love the people in our lives. Are we intentional? Do they experience our love, and to the extent that we should love them? Is our intention only an intention, or are concrete, meaningful (to the recipient) actions involved?
A further set of questions surrounds how we measure our love. Are we giving to get? In other words, is it only worth it if you are receiving what you expect to receive? Or are you loving the way Jesus loved, wanting the best for those you love and laying down your life for those you love? Are you giving freely and without setting conditions?
The best way to know if you are loving well is to study love in the Bible, as well as those who loved well. The goal is to learn the ways of love rather than creating a perfect standard for behavior.
As you learn these ways, ask God to enable you to improve the way you love. He is love, and wants to love others well through each of us. As we continue to go to Him in humility and ask to be transformed in the way we love, He will answer our prayers in His way and time.
Keywords: loving well, love assessment