I grew up in a family that sometimes fought. Perhaps you can identify.
I had two sisters, and needless to say, we didn’t always see eye to eye. There was selfishness, pride, and lack of grace. And naturally, it was never me who was at fault. Or at least I thought. And so, we would fight.
Maybe you feel that way right now as well. The church is sometimes a family at war. We sometimes lack unity. We sometimes have different goals, and different priorities. From time to time, we take some shrapnel and it hurts. And sometimes, we even experience a bit of friendly fire.
But the important thing to remember is: family and enemies fight differently.
When family fights, it may be long and drawn out, but you don’t fight to kill. With an enemy, on the other hand, it’s a fight to the death. So it follows that if you don’t know who you’re fighting against, there are certain to be disastrous consequences.
The church is a family—united in Christ, adopted by the Father, unified by the Spirit. That doesn’t mean we always see eye to eye, but it does mean that we must fight for unity with one another. We fight brutally against the enemy. But we also fight brutally for our brothers and sisters.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
We are a family at war. But it is not meant to be “domestic” violence and vicious infighting. We are to put sin to death, place gossip aside, crush grumbling, and fight for grace and peace.
When we are a family at war, let’s make sure it’s against the correct enemy.
