As Christians we often become distracted by the details. For believers who discover deliverance from demons, their future days are fill with discerning what devils may be about. For those of great intellect, the Christian faith becomes a focus to define with words like Theology, Apologetics, and Eschatology (Study of End Things, End Times, and the End of History). Quickly those who swore their lives to be servants of the Savior become servants of these sub-categories of Christianity. You can usually find the fraternities of our faith by the name of the churches. Churches with the names Flames of Fire or Pentecostal will focus on the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. Churches with the name St. Benedict or St. Marie will focus on the traditions of venerating these saints and so on and so on.
Every congregation confesses that Christ is their Lord and yet the circle of their time and activity follows an attribute of God or one fruit of the Spirit. There are whole church bodies dedicated to the Self Control doctrine, their whole goal is to have as much control of self as possible. There are even severe monastic groups who take this tenant to the zenith with chastisement. Then there is the church of love, where everyone is jolly and tries to make their members and newcomers feel warm. Let us not forget the churches of faithfulness. Oh this body of faithful believers can be counted on for everything, except maybe love and kindness, and forbearance for those who fall short of their obligations.
The point I am trying to make is that most Christians fall into the trap of chasing after a fruit that they forget the vine who is Jesus Christ nailed upon the cross and ruling with the shepherd staff at the right hand of the Father! Believers aiming to serve God often aim for the outer circle of the target. They take their eyes off Jesus and then start focusing on one of the many different virtues, fruits, gifts, or laws of the Lord. We dissect our God and choose to erect temples of his attributes. Rather than have one Church that is all the fruits, we segregate the parts of our Lord and hope that they will sustain us. But how can it? How can we be satisfied with only a piece of Christ and not all of Him?! The fact is that the enemy of our faith the Prince of this World has worked very hard to keep the saints separated from each other. The devil has used tradition, terminology, rite, ritual, and temperaments to cause a great divide between all Christians.
As a result we end up isolated and devouring one another, rather than united under the banner of Christ. Here is a qausi-chart of what Christianity looks like:
Many of us are squabbling on the outer ring over our differences. Some are busy on the inner ring doing what is suppose to get you to the bull's-eye itself, but ultimately everything falls short of hitting the mark that is Jesus Christ. Prayer and even worship can become idols if they are not used to commune and connect with Christ. Our goal should be to know, love, and be close to our Savior, not squabble over things that will sort themselves out upon His Return. Make not mistake, I am not shaming the theologians, apologetic masters, and Scripture Sages. What I am saying is that anything short of Jesus is missing the mark. St. Paul said, "I count all things as lost, except knowing Christ." (Philippians 3:8). Paul had an ivy league education. He studied under Gamiel, the foremost Jewish scholar of the time and he knew the Law back and forwards. When Paul was converted on the Road to Damascus, he became so full of the wisdom and brilliance of the Most High that he was given a thorn in the flesh, a demon to keep him from being proud (2 Corinthians 12:7). But Paul counts it all as nothing! All his Scripture knowledge, doctrinal brilliance, and mighty musings. It is all loss when compared to knowing Christ. This is not to dismiss St. Paul's writings and their relevance. No, the Epistles of Paul are the great testate to determine what it means to follow Christ and to avoid the pitfalls of cults and anti-Christ doctrines. What I mean to say is that Paul counted everything as meaningless when compared to knowing and connecting with Jesus. Jesus is the center of the bulls eye Paul is saying and we must aim to know him with the arrow of our soul and spirit.
In the end we can choose to follow the different fruits of the Holy Spirit like most Christians or we can be like some Christians who are active in prayer, worship, encouragement, and acts of kindness. But more important than either of these circles of Christianity is the center that is Jesus Christ. We should want to be the few who set at his feet. Too many of us are like Martha, cooking the in kitchen, resenting those who are close to Christ because we are busy with the particulars. Let us the take the place of greater honor like Mary did, and set at Jesus' feet and become his disciple.
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