A House Divided

Image by Nikita Kashner via Flickr

"A House Divided" By Diane Webb

Ephesians 6: 15—"And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace".

Studying the gospel provides peace which helps you fight the powers of darkness in your life as well as in the church (the body of Christ). Thinking of the peace of the gospel as a pair of shoes is an interesting analogy. Shoes provide basic protection for the feet to enable the feet to support the body. Without shoes, our feet would get sore and possibly injured as we walk from place to place. Shoes are not the most obvious things we wear but are an essential component of attire. The gospel therefore is being portrayed as an indispensable piece of clothing in the spiritual warfare armor. Peace, by the same measure, is not always obvious but provides the basic support and protection for the feet of the body of Christ. The advice Paul gives in his letter to the Ephesians is to the church as a whole and to the individual church members who make up the church as well. There is no substitute for reading the Bible and, as Paul says, the gospel which is the good news of Jesus. The body of Christ is the church and therefore as individual members study the gospel they develop peace within themselves. When peace is inside your heart (and covering your feet), you are not likely to participate in conflict or division of the church; nor are you likely to take part when others argue. Paul seems to already know how divided churches can become between themselves and among each other. The body of Christ is weakened as churches argue, divide, and split. Many sermons on Sunday morning are preached against another denomination rather than for Christ. It's as if we are afraid of another part of the body of Christ. It amounts to our own leg being threatened by our arm; or our knee feeling our elbow needs to go. If the body of Christ is divided, how can it stand strong against the influences of Satan? It cannot. Matthew 12: 25 says, "And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand". Satan attacks the kingdom of God by dividing the body of Christ—the church. A Christian is any person who believes Jesus is the Christ as promised in the Old Testament—the Messiah. A Christian church, then, is made up of members who believe this basic truth of Christianity. Every time a Christian puts down another Christian or talks against another Christian denomination, he or she is participating in the division of the body of Christ. When you get mad at someone in your church, especially the pastor, the first thought is to walk away from that church. We walk with our feet. This is where peace comes in. If we have the gospel of peace on our feet, we will not walk away from those we disagree with. We will not divide the house. We will listen patiently and with a uniting approach we will demonstrate the gospel of peace. We will sow seeds of harmony rather than seeds of discord. There are many churches that have divided with half the members leaving to start their own church because of a disagreement having nothing to do with the gospel. These disagreements are sometimes about what color the carpet should be and who's father "lost their crop" to help build the church back in the day. It all starts with an individual who has not prepared themselves with the gospel; a person who is not wearing the proper shoes to protect their feet from the shards of Satan.

Dear heavenly Father, please help me be a tool of harmony rather than discord. Help me to be a part of the building up of the body of Christ and not participate in tearing it down. Help me Lord prepare myself with the gospel of peace. Let me, God, walk with shoes of peace where ever I go today. In Christ's name I pray, Amen.