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Called To Be Influencers

In Biblical terms, is division wrong?
Most people use the word division meaning there is great dissension, hostility or factions developing. You can’t use the term without acknowledging that division can also mean a distinction or set apart. People are tired of the fighting. There is not a single topic that does not seem to bring controversy of some sort. As Christ-followers, that does not mean that we get an out from participating in the conversation. Peace at all costs allows evil to dominate. I believe that is what hate and fear do to people; they cause people to recoil and go silent. Let’s take a journey through the Bible and see what God has to say about division. My hope is at the end you will be able to make an informed decision on how you want to participate in your life. The first story I love is in Exodus 8:22-23, where God set apart His people with the swarms of flies. The plague of flies laid the land of Egypt and Pharaoh’s house to waste, but for God’s people, there were no flies. In Leviticus 20:26, God gives His people regulations so society could recognize that “Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” David declares this distinction beautifully when he wrote in Psalm 4:3, “But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him.” God’s people must be clearly recognizable from society.
Fast forward to the New Testament, and Jesus continued with the thought in Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23 saying, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” Everyone must decide if they will follow Christ and His teachings or reject Jesus as God’s son. You can’t just say, “I follow Christ” without being obedient to His words. Here comes the choice you have to make. James 4:4 says, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” God’s people can never come into agreement with evil, no matter what the aftermath may be. I see where hate is threatening believers and causing their family and friends terror. The division in life choices is not the issue. People who use intimidation, hostility, threats, screaming, and basic thuggery are the problem. If you are proclaiming God and using these methods, then you are going against everything God represents. (Titus 3:10-11)
1 Peter 2:9 teaches that you are chosen “so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” In this world of crazy, we must be able to verbally proclaim Who God is and why others should choose God. If Christ people are moving in fear like the society, relying on government for solutions like society or complaining in hateful rants like society, how are we declaring God’s surpassing qualities? We live in a world that relies on influencers. The funny thing is that Jesus gave His people the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20, which is to make disciples of all nations. Our daily choices should be drawing people to God and His ways. That will not happen if there is no clear distinction or division between our choices and the worlds. Spend some time meditating on this last verse. “They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, 1 John 4:5




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