All In This Together!

"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."

"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:38-40 NIV)

Over the past year or so, I've known some people who are always in a fuss over who's got the best church and who's church believes in the right thing or not. I believe if Jesus were here now and would hear these fusses, then He would say exactly what he did in Mark 9:40, "for whoever is not against us is for us."

All of us should care less who has the best church or who had more people saved in the past year---we are ALL in this together!! If one church had twenty people get saved last year and one had five, we shouldn't use that as comparison, but instead, say that twenty-five were added to the kingdom!! I think that the problem with most of us Christians today is that we always want to play the comparison game. As Bro. Eric always says, "What we believe may divide us but in whom we believe shall unite us!"

Mark 9:42-50 teaches us that we better be careful what we teach others to do. Jesus said, "That if anyone causes someone who believes in him to sin, that it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck." Seems kind of harsh, right? Absolutely not! We should not lead our brothers or sisters in Christ in the wrong direction, as young believers need direction from those who are mature in Christ and can show them the way. Jesus goes on to teach us that, if our hand or foot causes us to sin, then cut it off, or if your eye causes you to sin, then pluck it out!

What does all that about the hand, foot, and eye mean? Well, I read an article on the Internet that seems to explain it all very well. Perhaps the hand means "what we do," the foot means "where we go," and the eye means "what we see or desire."  So, as Christians, we need to watch we do, where we go, and what we see, so that we do not lose our influence and testimony in Christ! We will all fall short of the glory of God, but we must try our hardest to live for Christ and die to self daily.

Hope we all strive for perfection and know that whatever we do, Christ is with us!