I have been thinking lately about the words of Jesus in Mark 3:25 which says “if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” This seems to me to be a very basic and straight forward concept. Yet, we do not seem to be able to put it into action.
The Church is nothing but a bunch of divisions, it seems. All of Christianity is divided into smaller and smaller chunks of people. The intention is to make life easier to organize, which is only normal. However, I think we are taking it a bit too far. We have grouped and organized ourselves into a state of division and it shows in our effectiveness at sharing the gospel with the rest of the world.
We are divided into Protestants and Catholics, etc. Then to go even further, we are divided into Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and so on. Then we are divided into separate congregations or churches. Then at the local congregation level, we are divided into those who go to first service or second service, special committees, seniors, young adults, youth, children, different Sunday School classes based on age or grade, and even different service groups within that class group. As I said, this is a logical breakdown for the purposes of organization. However, we take it too far when we start to look at it as a dividing line or even a competition. When we are unwilling to work in unity with a different class group or committee or another congregation to achieve a goal, that is where the division becomes the problem that Jesus was describing.
We will never be able to reach our optimum effectiveness as the Church of Jesus until we are able to set aside the differences we have and focus on the One we have in common. If we insist on seeing other Christians as Baptist and Methodist or this church or that church, we are truly a house divided against itself. If we are truly divided, then, we are doomed to face the music. This House will never stand.

