Christian Living

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Right or Wrong


Definitions of Right and Wrong:

Right means correct, true, appropriate, fit. a couple of adverbs are completely and exactly.

Wrong means incorrect, mistaken, misinformed.

Have you ever noticed that most people want to be right? Did you ever think that in order to be right you've got to be 100% right? As I read the definitions of right and wrong I see that most everybody fits the wrong category more times than not. It's a whole lot easier to be wrong than right. In order to be 100% right we've got to be 100% correct. If we aren't completely true with our statements then we're not going to be right.

It's easy for people to change their minds about what they believe. All it takes is, to gain, some insight into a bit of truth you never knew before, causing you to become a total believer in a different direction. The next thing you know, whatever you learned in the past can become irrelevant.

I've learned a powerful lesson in life concerning us people and how we change. We usually go from one extreme to another before we ever get in balance. Sometimes we never balance out.

When it comes to Jesus and His body, I see we've all been given a part of the whole and it's up to us to come together with our part. Otherwise, what are we as the Body of Christ going to do with the part He's given us? Hold onto it and declare our "rightness" or share it with one another, receive its benefits and declare His Glory?

At one time or another, all of us have made our declarations of having the truth and believing it with all our hearts. When we receive new understanding we can either, replace the old with it or learn how to build on the previous and use both. It's kind of like Jesus when He said He didn't come to do away with the law but to fulfill it.

Our disagreements in the past seemed to center around being too conservative or being too demonstrative. One side says let's be logical. The other side says let go of the logic and let the Spirit take control.

Our struggle comes when we forget we are both flesh and spirit. Paul, pretty much, had it figured out when he said, “I'll pray with my spirit and my understanding.” He gave us a lot of insight into both arenas, yet left enough unsaid so we would have to seek God, more, for even deeper revelation.

Here's an observation I've been made aware of with both conservative churches and the more "freer" ones. When someone gets a new revelation of doing something different, like programs or a new wave of spirituality, and it becomes successful for them, other churches of like mind pick up on it and begin to pattern their programs/services after it.

We are all so uniquely different. God made us that way for a good reason. I believe part of it is so we don't mimic each other entirely. We need to learn to seek God so He can work in us, individually, to enhance us, to stretch us to make us, all, more like Him and less like each other. Of all the great heroes of the faith I don't see any two alike. Even the disciples were different than Jesus, even though they learned to become more like Him.

As long as we are seeking to follow Christ, and are willing to yield in humility to each other, we all will begin to have unnecessary things chipped out of our lives. Stubborn things that have hindered some of the growth God has been trying to accomplish in all of us for years.

God will never let one part of Jesus' body be exalted over the other. Whenever self acclaimed exaltation occurs, things start falling apart. Every believer has something to offer. I think that's why Paul said in Col. 3:16 that when we come together, let the word of Christ dwell richly in us in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing "one another" in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

I believe one of the missing ingredients in cross-denominational, thinking, is grace. It's been given to us through God's love in Jesus but we seem to stop it there. In reality God expects us to apply the same grace towards one another as He did to us

At times I see the church, as a whole, misapplying Paul’s teaching on the different parts of the body in 1 Cor. 12. It seems as though we think of those from another "denomination" as having the uncomely parts. With the denominational walls in place comes Satan's ability to tempt us to be more understanding with the ones in our own group, and less understanding, even to the point of labeling, those from another group. All have been guilty of this. I can see Father God holding His head in His hand wondering when we are going to start looking at the "big" picture.

It goes right back to right and wrong. What's right and what's wrong?

We will only be right when, we unite ourselves (the whole body of Christ) with the resolve of judging nothing before its time and coming together to search, the entirety of, scripture for the whole truth. We must begin to work as one to gain the fullness of God's love and the working knowledge of how each part must fit together. Until we have a complete fit we will never be "right".

As long as we remain apart and allow something between us, we will never be right. In fact, the very act of having something against a brother/sister stops the will of God from taking place in us. If we don't think the other "parts" matter we will fall short of God's goals for all of us. That doesn't mean we must all go to the same place to worship. It does mean we must unite our hearts for the common goal of finding the "Truth". Then and only then will we be truly free.

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