"There is nothing,
next to Christ and heaven, which Satan begrudges believers more than their
peace and mutual love.
Now if the Gospel
will not allow us to pay our enemies back in their own coin, returning anger
for anger, then certainly it forbids a brother to spit fire into the face of
another brother. When such embers of contention begin to smoke among
Christians, we can be sure Satan planted the spark; he is the one great kindle-coal
of all strife.
Whenever there is
a storm in the spirits of saints, and the winds of their emotions are high and
loud, it is easy to see who has stirred up the tempest. The devil practices his
black art on unmortified lusts, that enable him to raise easily many storms of
division among believers. Paul and Barnabas, for instance, set out in a calm
together, but Satan sent a storm to part them in the middle of their
journeyings: "And the contention was so sharp between them, that they
departed asunder one from the other" (Acts
15:39).
There is nothing,
next to Christ and heaven, which Satan begrudges believers more than their
peace and mutual love. If he cannot separate them from Christ, and stop them
from getting to heaven, he takes sinister pleasure in watching them get there
in a storm. He would have them be like a shattered fleet separated from one
another, saints deprived of the comfort and help of other Christians along the
way. And when the devil can divide, he hopes to ruin also, knowing well that
one ship is more easily taken than a squadron.
Now I love clear,
calm air; but most of all I enjoy it in the church. I confess I am more aware
of the greatness of this mercy when I see the dismal results of divisions that
have troubled believers during these last years. What can I compare error to,
better than smoke? And contention, than to fire? It is an emblem of hell
itself, where darkness and flames meet to intensify the horror. But let me give
you three reasons why a believer should give himself to peace and unity.”
.”Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete Armour Daily Readings
in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell. http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617
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