The Origin of Light (witness number fifteen) ...

It is said that Light has properties of both particles and waves, it is both.  But to determine the origination of light, not just the source it appears to emanate from at the moment, but its universal genesis, is a more difficult proposition.  How, when and where did light separate from darkness?  Trying to determine the origin of thought is equally perplexing.  While we understand the mechanics of how our brains work, how a thought is constructed is another matter.  And for as much as we have learned about life, we remain unable to prevent its demise, or bottle it, or use our knowledge to bring about something that was dead.  We can use life to make life, but remain unable to create life from something that does not already have life within it.  So to the scientific mind, that does not accept the premise of divinity, there are a great many things that remain an undiscovered mystery.  And for those who refuse to share a commonality of belief, even the language we use to communicate is less clear, and makes it harder to share concepts and ideas.  A refusal to believe makes it much harder to learn.

As the trap to kill Christ for His refusal to condemn Mary Magdalene caught in adultery before the people had failed; the conspirators had left, but the crowd remained.  It was the perfect opportunity for Jesus to continue speaking to this crowd of witnesses, about the origin of things that would change their lives.  John’s gospel account continues in chapter eight and verse 12 saying … “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  If this had been all that Jesus had said to His listeners it may have been enough.  For His central point had been revealed, most of what would follow was a response to the Pharisees who remained in the crowd and had kept silent during the failed attempt to trap Christ with His love for redeeming Mary over following their ideas of the law’s requirements. 

Jesus had told His listeners, “I am the light of the world”.  The origin of light, the thing that drives darkness away, the focal point upon which we focus and find only light, life and truth is in fact Jesus Christ.  Notice that Christ did not hold up the scripture and say “these documents” are the light of the world.  Nor did Christ hold up the laws of Moses, or the Ten Commandments, and offer them as the light of the world.  It is not because those documents are any less “true”.  It is not because they had lost their relevancy.  It was because ALL of them were testimonies of “who” was to come, of “who” was to fulfill them, of “who” was to meet the hopes and dreams of everyone contained in them from Adam to the people sitting in the Temple on this day.  All of scripture pointed to a “who”, and that WHO was Jesus Christ.  It is NOT to be your understanding of scripture that will be the source of the light you encounter.  It IS to be your understanding of Jesus Christ that will determine the light you find in your life.  The Bible is a supporting document for the truth of Jesus Christ, not the other way around.

If we are to find light, so that we can “see”, we must follow not after our own understanding and our own wisdom, or scientifically proven conceptual ideas, but instead we must follow after Jesus Christ.  ONLY through the illumination of Jesus Christ, can the scriptures be understood.  ONLY through the prism of His light, through the lens of perfect love, can the words recorded and ideas presented in the written word begin to make perfect sense.  Trying to read the Bible without first “following” Jesus Christ and submitting our wisdom to His, is like trying to read a book in the dark.  The eyes cannot see, and the brain cannot interpret.  In point of fact, the God of the Bible, is more important than the testimony of the Bible.  This was never more poignantly true, than when that testimony has been misconstrued and misunderstood.  The Pharisees present in this crowd had misapplied the scriptures to keep power and wealth reserved to themselves.  In so doing they had abandoned love, and the God of love, who now stood before them, offering to re-open their eyes from the darkness they chose to wallow in.

From the Pharisees point of view, nothing was more important than the law Moses had brought down from Mt. Sinai.  This was the basis of study they had spent their lives engaged in.  Scripture had been long debated among them, though some ideas were not universal.  Some of their number believed in the literal resurrection at the end of days, while others believed when you died you slept forever, never to exist again.  These kinds of divisions over understanding are common, even today, when the most important premise of love is not sought first.  In any case, Christ, by all indications, valued love over the law.  So from their point of view, He could not be source of light, because He was in conflict with the “light” they believed they already knew.  In verse 13 they challenge Him saying … “The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.”  First, they point out to the listening crowd that the religious leadership of the organized church of the day, has NOT sanctioned what Christ is saying about Himself.  And then they further state, that “what” Christ is saying about Himself is not the truth.

In verse 14 Jesus responds … “Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.”  In effect the Pharisees were blinded because they sought to use scripture to accomplish an end, and did not love first.  In looking away from Christ as the Messiah, they looked away from both Christ and His Father.   So to know the perfect love that existed in heaven and was the foundation of scripture was not something they were going to perceive.  Jesus continued in verse 15 … “Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. [verse 16] And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.”  First of all Jesus says to them, that they evaluate life based on what it looks like to them.  How things appear to the Pharisees is how they are, including all their predispositions and prejudices, not unlike us.  Second Christ says to them, that His role and His mission is NOT about judgment.  It is about redemption.  But thirdly, if He were to judge, His judgments would be true, not because He is alone, but because He is ever in concert with His Father in ALL things.  This means that Father and Son work together for our redemption, and that our redemption was the primary goal of both of them, not just of Christ.  It also means that if we are to be evaluated by God, we will be evaluated by both Christ and His Father, not just the one or the other.  Those today who believe God can be found outside of Christ are ignoring that Christ is also God.  There is no path to God, outside of God.  This was a concept the Pharisees would refuse to believe or accept.

Jesus now turns the tables on His accusers and quotes their laws back to them beginning in verse 17 … “It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. [verse 18] I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.”  Jesus offered Himself as one witness to the truth of what He said.  So far, they had never caught Him in a lie, nor would they.  Nothing He had ever said could be disproven, or even factually disputed using the scriptures as a basis.  Christ disagreed with their interpretation of scripture, but they did this among themselves for centuries.  As His second witness, Jesus offers His Father, as evidenced in the miracles He performed, that would have been impossible without Divine blessing.  After all, none of them had fed 5,000 men plus women and children.  None of them had ever restored a crippled man completely to full health and vigor before.  None of them had turned water to wine.  These deeds bore the witness of the Divine.  None of these deeds had been done to enrich Christ, or make Christ more wealthy or powerful.  All had been done as gifts to those who received them.  The facts were in evidence.

So the prosecutor decides to ignore the facts that were common knowledge and demand a personal appearance answering in the start of verse 19 … “Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? …”   If Jesus was going to claim to be the Messiah sent of God the Father, let Him produce God the Father in person as a witness.  They did not see Him in the crowd that day.  Nor would they.  Had God the Father appeared in that instance to testify of His son (as He did in the form of a dove descending on the head of Jesus at His baptism, and stating in a plain voice from heaven about how loved His Son truly was); the Pharisees would have still refused to believe.  They did not believe it the first time.  This is the same cry for “proof” that Atheists demand today, that even if answered would never be enough.  The Pharisees of His day would have claimed it was Satan that appeared masquerading as God.  The Atheists of our day would claim it was some sort of mass hysteria or mass hallucination or CGI trickery if merely seen on TV.  When one refuses to believe, no amount of “proof” will ever shake them from their refusal.

Jesus offers his response picking back up in mid verse 19 … “Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.”  This was more than a statement about the parentage of Christ.  This was a statement about where their lifelong study of scripture had led them to the wrong conclusions because their motives and premise were not the right ones.  If they had understood the love of the Father as revealed throughout the Old Testament, they would have seen this love reflected in the person of Jesus Christ.  Every story of redemption throughout the Old Testament showed that when man recognized and admitted that he could not save Himself, God intervened and saved Him.  Every story that chronicled man’s attempts at saving himself, ended badly, or worse ended violently.  When man attempts to get involved with his own salvation the results are horrific.  But when man allows God to handle it, the outcome is assured.  This lesson was lost on the Pharisees.  They saw only their own importance.  And so those who should have been most alert to the Messiah, and should have been the first to recognize Him and follow Him, looked away from the source of light, preferring to wander in darkness.  They did not know God the Father, so they did not recognize God in the person of Jesus Christ.  All their accumulated study and knowledge did nothing to alert them to the light that stood before them now.  Power was more important to them.  Humility was absent from them.  And missing the light of the world was the result.

John footnotes his story at this point, noting that Christ was teaching in the treasury, to those who were there.  The leaders were none too happy with Him, and would have killed Him on the spot, but the divinely appointed hour was not yet come.  So they left Him alone.  But His sermon was not yet over …

A Home Without Judgment ...

Home.  Just the word invokes a feeling.  When away from it for any length of time we begin to miss it.  We long to return to a place where love abounds, where we are accepted, appreciated, needed, and loved.  Home is where our family lives.  These are the people who know us best, and love us most.  We are not loved in our homes because we are perfect.  But we are loved despite our imperfections.  We may hurt those who love us, or argue with them, but in the end there is always forgiveness, always healing, and eventually peace.  We may go out for activities, or work, or entertainment – but in the end we always look to going home.

Our churches need to stop being churches and start becoming homes.  We do not need to move our belongings into them and sleep there at night to accomplish this.  But we need to realize that a home is a place we treasure, a place we long to be – not for its amenities, but for its complete acceptance of who we are.  It is love that defines our homes the most, and so it must be love that comes to define our churches the most.  Our church must become a home without judgment, a home of love, and a place of healing.  When church becomes this ideal, our members will hardly be able to stay away.  Seating will be in short supply, workers too plentiful, and outreach a natural phenomenon.  Guests will be treated as they would be honored in a private home.  They will be treasured, served, and leave wishing only to return once again.  It is then that we will once again begin to see Christ in His church.  It will be His image that is burned into the minds of member, speaker, and guest.  And it will be His work that will explode again in countries that have long been immune to theological dissertations and warnings of doom.

Some have argued that the church must be a place of standards, doctrine, and truth.  They believe the mission of the church is to spread the unpopular truth revealed in the law that we are wicked and in need of a savior.  Thus church should be only a place for perfection; perfect clothing, perfect cleanliness, and perfect behavior.  But these ideals are seldom lived, and rarely seen in the same believers homes.  It is because they rely too much on imperfect humans to accomplish goal that are beyond their capacity.  Our need of a savior to remove our wickedness and pain is true, but the reason we are drawn to Him is because He cares about us and loves us.  Christ drew people to Himself because He loved them.  Only then was He able to begin to remove their pain.  Condemnation drives people away.  A revelation of our evil condition is not nearly as compelling as the offer of a life without pain, and a future that begins here and now and continues into eternity.  Christ offers us an escape for our pain here.  He offers it to us because He loves us, and for no other reason.

Some argue that if we adopt such a complete standard of love and acceptance that sinners will use this as an excuse to hang on to their cherished sins.  But this is not true.  Have you ever noticed the behavior of a smoker when they visit the home of a friend who does not smoke?  The smoker does not simply quit forever because he is visiting a friend.  But he is conscious about the fact that his friend does not smoke, so he tries to refrain.  Or if he must smoke, he goes outside, or tries to be as respectful to his non-smoking friend as he is able.  If he just lit up a cigarette in his non-smoking friend’s living room, the friend might remind him politely not to light up there and offer him an alternative.  But friendships continue despite the differences between the two. 

Smokers inherently know that their habit is not one everyone appreciates.  They know that the habit may well be damaging their health.  They know that it is a costly habit and they would do better financially if they stopped.  They know it turns their teeth yellow and their lungs black.  They know their smoke can damage other’s health, particularly the vulnerable like children, or pregnant women.  Yet all this collective knowledge does little to inspire people to quit.  Why?  Because it “looks cool”, or “everyone else is doing it”?  These two sentiments are not nearly as true in our society as they may once have been.  It is because the chemicals in cigarettes are addictive.  They are designed this way, to provide the body with a feeling of relaxation that it will crave over and over again.  Chemical addiction is not easily broken, often it requires outside intervention.  But it is ultimately NOT isolation that inspires a smoker to quit.  It is the desire to be included with many who do not smoke that makes him want the change.

Our homes are not places where we excuse horrific behavior.  We seldom welcome unrepentant child molesters, practicing serial killers, and active psychotics over for dinner.  Anyone of those folks would inherently already know that their behavior limits their ability to socialize with others.  But where does a former child molester or former murderer go when they wish to reform who they are?  How can a person change from the evil they embrace to the perfection Christ offers if not to associate in a home where He is present?  We might remove a belligerent smoker from our homes if they seem only interested in hurting us.  But we would not consider removing the friend who smokes, but is very respectful in our homes and really wants to quit.  It is the same condition, but an entirely different interaction between us.  Sinners, of which we are all appropriately labeled, fall into these same categories.  Each of us inherently know what acts we commit that we should not be doing.  And the cure for all of them is Christ.  The only question is whether we intend to seek the cure or not.  It is love that draws us to seek the cure.  It is because we love our families that we wish to become better people so as not to hurt them or ourselves.  It is love alone that can motivate us to do so.  It is indifference that would allow us to hurt others around us; indifference we are shown, and indifference we reflect as well.

If our churches are places of only indifference, apathy, and self-enrichment – we can expect to see no great change in our own lives or the lives of others around us.  No one seeks change for those they could care less about.  But if our churches are homes steeped in love, where genuine care and concern for every single family member or honored guest is the norm, the expected, the routine – then a world of change is inspired both within us and around us.  People crave the company of such groups and such places.  It is a lack of love our world suffers from, not an overabundance of it.  Our world is full of indifference and those who care nothing for us.  Our church MUST NOT BE the same as the world in this regard.  The singular characteristic that will keep our churches from becoming like the world around us is not found in our doctrine, or worship style, but in our application of genuine love for each other.  Doctrinal distinctions were supposed to only enrich our ability to love, not squelch it.  As our ability to love increases, our desire to change increases.  As we forsake indifference for concern, we inspire those objects of our affection to wish to experience the same love we seem to reflect.  It is in this way that world changes into His image.

People will tolerate a number of things they do not enjoy, if what they ultimately care about the most is present.  I may not enjoy a visit with extended family members who I find illiterate, obnoxious, or offensive.  But when those same family members, despite their shortcomings, pull together towards a common goal; when they appear to drop their own concerns and reflect deep interest in those of mine or each other; when they remember first we are truly family and that blood counts – all of the sudden, I remember how much I love those people.  Our petty differences are dropped as we realize how important we are to each other.  We begin to prioritize life better.  The place of our meeting and the conditions of the building become so much less important.  The background music, or what is on TV hardly matters.  What matters is that we love each other.  We care when one of us is sick, or faces a life threatening condition.  We ache when one of us has been hurt.  We want to help when one of us needs it.  We offer whatever skills we have as we are able.  This is family.  This is home.  This is a place we want to be.  This is what our church must become.

A great orator, an excellent speaker, a fantastic musician, and elegant surroundings do not make a church.  They make an entertainment vehicle.  If I am looking to be inspired for a moment, I might seek them out.  But when I have had my fill, I look to go home again.  The effects are temporary, not life altering.  And if given a choice to be permanently in the company of great orators, excellent musicians, and elegant surroundings – or be at home with a family who loves me – I would prefer to be at home.  Love beats performance.  Love has more of an effect than what I choose to observe for 2 hours, once a week.  But what if, those people who I truly love, can be found in church only one time per week?  What if that might be MY only opportunity to be with those people who I love?  Our schedules may not permit more interaction than that.  Or there may be simply too many of us to practically get together more often outside of a building that is big enough to house us all.  Well then, church is the one place I must be at, as those who I love will only be there once where I can see them all, talk to them all, catch up with them all.  I long to experience a true family get together, where the source of our love, family unity brought about by Christ, is the underpinning to all that we do.  It is more important that sermons, or choirs, or lesson studies. 

Our churches need to be more than mere places of education.  They need to be transformed into places where we have the time we need to reflect love and genuine concern we have for each other.  A common goal, a church wide activity that requires all members to participate to succeed should be more the curricula.  Sitting still, with minimal participation, or only as we collectively worship God does little to show person-to-person warmth for each other.  We turn our love to God upwards, from grateful hearts, but refuse to show it sideways to each other where it is needed most.  The person on my left needs to feel that love.  God already knows how I feel.  He knew it before I prayed, or gave my offering, or sang my song.  He is happy I love Him, now He wants me to take that love and apply it to the guy next to me in the pew.  Our services need to be altered so that I have that chance.  Individual praise to God, that is performed in a group, is not the same thing as love to each other.  It is a format that allows us to keep indifference between us.  It keeps us in our comfort zones of not having to interact with someone who may be in great need.  It is not a recipe for the spreading of love, it is a recipe for the maintenance of isolationism.  And it must end.

Our church is in need of the greatest reform.  It is not the forsaking of our evil habits and past that must be addressed, but rather the reason we would seek any kind of change within us.  We must seek first Christ, and His love to be instilled in us.  We must seek first every opportunity to express love, to our families, our honored guests, and the world around us.  It is a reform of love we need in our church.  Each of us needs so much more love than we have, not merely to be loved, but to love others ourselves.  We need to break the bonds of indifference through our submission to Christ.  To begin to see the world as He sees it, with longing in our hearts, love in our hands and feet.  This will be the most substantial reform the church has ever encountered.  It has historical precedent when founding fathers performed great acts of love and courage to take small ideas and turn them into large movements.  It was not their courage, or ideology that saw them succeed.  It was their commitment to love.  It was their actions to try to show and spread that love for those in darkness that led them to succeed.  From Peter and Paul, to Martin Luther, to the early pioneers of every church; it is love that marked success.  It is love than must now mark the greatest reform we can seek as a people or as a denomination.

Organized Religion ...

Does a Christian need a church to be a Christian?  Can we call ourselves followers of Christ but not subscribe to any form of organized religion, or does being part “of the body” require more of us than our individual devotion to our Lord?  In today’s culture there seems to be apathy if not disdain for organized religions in almost every variety.  A good number of people who identify themselves as Christians also admit they do not attend church regularly, some not at all.  Even within our own faith, church membership on the books or registry roles far exceeds who we see next to us week to week in the pews.  What appears to have so many Christians disinterested in weekly fellowship?  Is organization itself the cause, or is it something deeper?

To be of one accord; this was our goal, if not our mandate as Christians; to be one, as Jesus was one with His Father; a level of unity of purpose and intent that to date seems to have eluded us as Christians.  There are nearly 1000 different denominations of Christian churches around the world with reasonably significant memberships.  How can we even begin to talk of unity when there are a thousand different varieties of Christians who hold beliefs significantly different enough to warrant a thousand different organizations dedicated to the preservation of those differing beliefs.  It seems the only real thing that might unite us is our enemy.  Everyone (in the Christian community) would agree Satan is no friend of the followers of Christ, and yet almost each faith would gladly accuse the others of having been influenced by Satan for holding beliefs different from their own.  Everyone (again in the Christian community) would also agree that Muslims are mistaken in their beliefs and somehow seem to pose a threat to Christian values, yet most cannot point to a particular Islamic doctrine they are opposed to.  Atheists in general seem to pose the greatest “threat” to Christianity at large, as they are generally tagged as liberal, elitist, intellectuals who wish to see only their own anti-god agenda become the norm for society at large.  Sadly, only external opposition seems to bring Christians of different churches into any sort of unity with each other.  How far this is from the words of our Lord to be “as one”.

Organized religion must also contend with the woes of financial collection and distribution.  How much money should a pastor make?  If he is a pastor of a small church, should his income be equally small – or of a mega church, should his income be equally huge?  And when charitable missions are undertaken, who should receive the funds, in what amounts, to what audiences (local, regional, national, or global)?  Over time even the most patient of Christians begins to wonder what happens to his tithes and offerings once they exit his wallet.  It is easy to find a way to disagree with how your organization uses your funding, and then as a result become reluctant to continue giving.  How money is distributed becomes a substantial point of contention for many.

But perhaps more serious than how we spend our funds, is how much dedication we put into maintaining the rigidity of our beliefs among our various congregations.  It is not uncommon to hear a particular Christian church accuse another one of differing beliefs, of missing the kingdom of God, simply because they disagree about particular doctrines.  How interesting that particular points of faith become the determining factor in another person’s salvation.  In this regard, apparently His grace is a bit lacking?  My Bible reads “sufficient for all”, but then I like the King James version, and may not be a member in good standing in your church.  How easily Christians appear to do more than simply accuse other Christians of being mistaken, they develop antagonistic relationships with other churches.  Resentment builds when Christians “convert” from one faith to another.  Pastors are strictly watched to insure they do not preach any truth from the pulpit that may stray from the denominational traditions.  And as a result, very little “new” truth is ever revealed in any church, in any denomination – rather the traditional viewpoints are followed for decades on end.

The most obvious question an Atheist might ask a Christian attempting to witness to him, is simply – why your church?  With a thousand different choices he could make, why yours, why mine, why anyone’s outside of perhaps his own interpretations of scripture?  Assuming he is willing to ignore the 999 choices, upon a close examination of most churches, the follow-up question might be – where are all the members this week?  Has the acceptance of Christianity been reduced to a mere tacit agreement with a denominational viewpoint, membership on the roles of the local church, and a resumption of “normal” life after that?  Do we seek only the intellectual persuasion that our version of truth is the best one on the market, and then become content to see each other “as time, priority, and schedule permits”?  It does not look much like the model of the earliest Christian church.

But then the early Christian church was less organized, and more life altering.  It was more of a movement, than a set of doctrines.  It had a mission each member was committed to living not just remembering.  It required activity, and left little distractions to interrupt it.  Early Christian converts in the time of Peter and Paul, sold every belonging they had, gave everything to the church, and became avid witnesses for Christ.  They literally lived the gospel.  They dedicated their entire existence to the idea that everyone must hear the good news of Jesus Christ and come to know what it means to be truly saved from self, and from the slavery to self, we all suffer from.  Christ threw off the bonds of self service, even to those who continued to wear the chains of physical slavery.  Souls and lives were set free by Him.  To see this message encompass the globe was the burning desire in each new member’s heart.  For it was not just a recitation of scriptures, or an intellectual understanding of the role of the Messiah; rather it was the personal life altering freedom that Christ brought in the age old war against self, and the pain that self causes.  Christ had finally conquered the true enemy of our souls – “I”.  By submission or surrender, we could come to Christ, acknowledge our inability to free ourselves, and accept His gift of real change in our hearts, our minds, and our actions.  This was burning message that early Christians made a life of spreading.  And it spread like wildfire, changing the hearts, minds, and lives of all who encountered it.

Today however, the burning truth and the power of change that Christ can bring to a life, has been lost in the preservation of each denominations fundamental beliefs.  We spend more time attempting to distinguish Catholics, from Baptists, from Lutherans, from Methodists, from Adventists than we do living the fundamental life altering change that Christ brings to the heart.  As organized members of particular faiths it is no longer enough to merely point others to the source of love and change, we must go further and insure they have our unique view of truth as well.  Thus Christians spend more time attempting to proselytize other Christians, than they do sharing the gospel with those who are wholly unfamiliar with the name or power of Jesus Christ.  In this we fail the world, we fail ourselves, and we fail our Lord.  Would that we could reunite under His banner, and focus more on the sharing of Jesus Christ and His ability to change lives, and lead each soul to deeper truth.  If we could simply point people to Christ and let Christ lead them into further truth, even if that does not happen to correspond to our particular faith, we would do more for the Lord and have a larger impact on the world around us.  But alas, our organizations are not structured this way, and appear content how they are.

We lack a fire in our witness, because we lack a fire in our lives.  Our pews are empty because our members feel no compelling need to share what they have accomplished in the effort to witness this week, and need no encouragement for the coming days.  It is because our meager efforts to witness are few and far between, not the consuming passion of our very existence.  Our witnessing efforts tend towards pointing out the sins in others, and warning them of their impending doom – more than showing a genuine tender interest in the life and well-being of another, and providing a living example of what unconditional love looks like.  Our own hearts are unaffected because we have simply not allowed our Savior to affect them.  We cling to our own notions of how to conquer sin and achieve perfection, or worse become completely complacent with our condition in sin.  As such we cannot personally attest to the life altering change that Christ alone can bring.  Our denominations can do nothing to supplement the personal truth of a personal experience when Christ removes a sin that He alone could do from your everyday life.  That kind of experience is not found in a list of fundamental beliefs, it is found in a daily submission to Christ.  We rely on our organizations to find a way to witness to the world.  We are content to allow nameless pastors and evangelists to do the job of pointing the way to Christ, rather than pick of the banner ourselves; and so no personal need, no personal fire, translates to empty pews, and an apathetic crowd.

To begin to think about unity once again, is not to forsake our differences in beliefs – it is to unite around the most fundamental principle of all of Christianity – that Jesus Christ alone can save us from ourselves, our evil, and our pain.  In this my denomination does not matter.  In this my other ideas are not quite as important.  It is simple logic to assume that not all 1000 Christian churches can be 100% correct about every competing doctrine or ideology.  It stands to reason, that it might be me, or you, who is mistaken about a point of fact or two.  So why not simply point people to Christ and allow Christ the freedom to show us where we are wrong in His time, in His manner, and using the methods He wishes?  Why not concentrate less about the persuasion of doctrine and more on the surrender of a life to Christ.  This alone will restore the power of the gospel.  This alone is a solution the world is craving, needs, wants, and would listen to as they see it lived out in an actual life of a Christian.  Our lives can once again become our witness, not through our organization, but through our personal existence.

Having restored a passion for Christ in each of us, it leads us to crave the company of others.  Not only those who need to hear the hope and truth of change that only Christ can bring, but those who have already heard it, and now are living it out like we are.  We begin to want that communion with each other.  We begin to realize those with differing skills can fill differing roles in the body of Christ.  We begin to see the value in each member in the pew, and develop a passion to be involved in that person’s life.  This is the kind of renewal we need in each church regardless of its particular version of doctrines.  To mimic the ministry of Christ by intensely loving others first, all others, even those still in sin, even those we think above or below ourselves – literally everyone – this was His commission to those who call on His name.  If we are to call ourselves Christians, then we must mimic our Lord and LOVE first.  We can worry about the teaching MUCH later in the equation.  Let us restore love as our first passion, and bring back the tired to our churches once again.  Let us live a witness rather than simply talk about what might be, or what could be – rather let us talk about what is.  Let us make the love of Christ a reality in our own lives, and kill the “I” once and for all.  Perhaps then Christian unity might have a better shot at reality than it has thus far.