Looking Unto Jesus

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” – 1 Corinthians 1:10

In one place Paul writes to the Hebrews, “Looking unto Jesus”.  The antidote and antithesis to harmful division and segregation is looking unto Jesus.  When he is our focus and our mark, it keeps us all pressing toward the same goal.  No matter what comes, if this is our focus then we will be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

Paul, now a converted and sanctified man, writing back to the new Corinthian believers is saying to them: I am hearing that there is division among you.  I am hearing that there is Team Paul and Team Apollos.  His extortion to them is that this is not good.  Furthermore, that there is one team, one Lord, one Captain, and we all march under his banner and follow his instruction.  Jesus Christ is our chief executive and we follow his order.  Who cares if you were baptized under Apollos or heard the gospel from Paul?  This is circumstantial and irrelevant.  Do not love your heritage so much that you forget who saved you.  Do not love your social group that you forget that you were once an outcast.  Remember, Jesus loved you, called you, changed you, and commissioned you to preach this glorious gospel to the world.  Paul was well aware of the dangers of harmful division and was trying to cut it out.  Christ is the head and we are the body, like a cancer, division can harm the body and slowly destroy that which was once healthy.  We can get caught up in who has the right clothes, the right color skin, the right family, the right amount of money, the right ideals, the hobbies, etc.  We can get caught up in these things and forget that in focusing on these things we are not preserving the body.  The church physical may appear vibrant and prospering, while the church spiritual is feeble and decaying.  Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.  You cannot win your neighbor to God without first loving them and showing them love.  Looking to Jesus, and having faith that he will diligently and dutifully instruct the body, this perfects the joining and ensures the preservation of the body.  Love toward Christ and God is the answer to all that is in question.  We are instructed to love God with all we got and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Does this mean we accept sin?  No.  Does this mean we live without exhortation?  Certainly not, but to quote a sister in Christ I deeply respect: “think of a person in your life that you are close to who is lost.  A person you love and care for very much.  It could be your brother, cousin, son, someone special to you.  Think of that person’s face and put it in the front of your mind.  Now put that person’s face on every stranger you come in contact with, and treat that stranger like you would that person you love so much.”  When we look to Jesus, and love as he loved, our hearts align with his and the divisions that try so hard to define us melt away. 

God wants us to segregate ourselves from harmful segregation.  He wants us to divide ourselves from unholy division.  Within the body, we look to Christ, we love and serve Him the most.  Sometimes the most difficult thing to part with is your idea of how you think things should be.  If we look to Christ, he will join us together and help us to bring others into the fellowship.  Division within creates division without.  God loved you and he loved me, when we were unlovable.  Lord help us to never forget that we were once without, until someone, somewhere, reached out.