Try to Imagine… |

It goes without saying that our world is terribly divided. Nations look with suspicion at one another. The leaders of those nations make threats and take actions that make things worse.

Sadly, division is not limited to various nations. Our own society is seemingly hopelessly divided along political, regional, racial, moral, generational, and other lines. At times, the division even exists within families.

While all of this is sad to me, the saddest of all of the divisions that exists today is the division that is easily observable among people who call themselves “Christians.” One can drive a street in a town or city of almost any size and find places where people who claim to be followers of Jesus, but who wear a variety of names, whose organizations differ from one another, who worship differently from each other, and who may or may may not view each other as truly their brothers and sisters.

I’m asking all of us to try to imagine a time when this was not the case. Specifically, I would like for all of us to go back in our minds to the period of time during which the New Testament was being written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I want us to try to imagine a time when people who followed Christ were admonished to read and follow these words:

“I appeal to you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree (all speak the same thing, KJV), and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10, ESV).

I’d like for us to try to imagine a time when there were none of the following:

Different religious denominations
Creed books, catechisms, church manuals, etc.
“Church organization” higher than that of a local congregation
“Innovations” in worship for which no authority can be found in the New Testament.

Instead of those things, try to imagine some of these things:

The same things being taught “…everywhere in every church” (1 Cor. 4:17)
People wear only the name “Christian” without any additional designations
A loyalty to God and His will as revealed in the pages of His Word
People who, instead of fussing and fighting, do their best to help one another get to heaven.

I’m fortunate in the sense that I do not have to try to imagine those things. I am blessed to be able to worship regularly with people who believe in and try to implement a restoration of New Testament Christianity. Like those people who lived during the time when the New Testament was being written, we are far from perfect. In fact, we make no such claim. The same New Testament which teaches about the plan of salvation, the proper way to worship, etc. also teaches in a variety of places that none of us can make that claim (Rom. 3:23, 1 John 1:8, 10, etc.).

While we cannot claim perfection, it is possible for us to do our best to worship and serve the One who is perfect. Maybe you would be interested in learning a little more about this. If so, I hope that you will contact one of us who contributes to A Legacy of Faith.

All we are trying to do is to do our part to answer the portion of the prayer that our Lord prayed not long before He went to the cross. As He prayed for those who would believe in Him because of the word of His apostles, His will for us was…

that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me (John 17:21).

Receive Every Post Via Email

AUTHOR: Jim Faughn