Perspective

One of my pet peeves came back to me today as I was reading a book, looking for an answer to a question someone had posed. None of that is relevant though. The irritant is. That is, how absolute we are in our beliefs and faith.

I’ve often wondered why a group of people believes they need to dress in a certain period of time and speak the old King James language to be more righteous. Jesus didn’t speak King James. I wonder about churches that hold to customs that are so antiquated, that only 3rd world countries still hold to them. I struggled for years with the church in Acts who lived communally. In my mind that was the 60s and 70s and certainly not what I would think of as a Christian lifestyle.

And why are there so many religions and denominations and synods and sects? Can they all be so wrong or so right? I recently heard a definition of religion – man’s attempt to reach God. What makes us think we can do any better than the people building the Tower of Babel? I recognize that I need to belong to a body of believers, and I choose to be a Christian. That means I found a denomination that I believe follows the same principles I believe the Bible wants me to live. It doesn’t mean I find everyone else wrong though. It doesn’t mean I will never change my mind. It doesn’t mean I want to spend my time sorting out how others believe differently than me.

Being a Christian for me means following Christ and continuing His work. I recall years ago meeting a missionary to the communist world. He’d been in prison, seen people executed, and written a book. I was young and thought I knew more than I really did when I asked him questions about denominational differences. His shocked look and calm answer planted me firmly back on the planet. He told me that those things don’t make a difference when your life is on the line for your faith. Think about it. You are about to be executed because you won’t denounce Jesus Christ. Do you think it matters if you are Presbyterian or Moravian or non-denominational?

So why do we spend so much time worrying about the details instead of building the Kingdom of Heaven? Is life too easy for us that we focus on the insignificant? Do we think we have all the time in the world and that Jesus’ second coming is ages off? I think I need to keep things in perspective, and find a way to encourage those around me to do the same, instead of getting caught up in wasting time arguing about details we’ll never understand, or that just don’t matter.