*Splintered

In a phone conversation with a black pastor friend, he reminded me of something I had mentioned to him some years ago. I had told him that the crowd we ran with (which I am no longer affiliated with), would end up fragmented because of their lack of charity and their exclusiveness. He informed me that they are now no more than splinter groups, attacking one another. I got to thinking about his statement, and how you cannot build anything out of splinters.

Paul warned the Galatians “…if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” A modern-day shepherd told me once that when sheep are not fed properly, they start chewing the back of the others. I wonder if this is not the main cause of so much backbiting among us today.

I remember the sweet times we all had years ago when during revival meetings, as high as twenty-five churches in our community would visit with us. And we returned the courtesy during their special meetings. I’m fearful that many, under the guise of separation, are really practicing isolation. It has always amazed me how we can work with other believers, but we can’t worship with them.

Insecurity, I find, generally is derived from immaturity. And the former usually avoids surroundings and people they’re not familiar with. I personally believe it is time for us to stop building walls and begin building bridges. We stanch Bible Believers are not lacking for the one, but we sadly are for the second. Whenever the Church has suffered persecution it is amazing to find the various types of Christians sharing the same foxhole!