Making Christian Unity Personal and Real

About a year ago I wrote a series of blog posts about the bases for Christian unity. Understanding Christian unity intellectually is important, but not an end in itself. But it is an important step. Truth needs to travel that 12 inches from the head to the heart, and then those several feet from the heart to the hands and feet. More simply, it needs to be made real, active.

So, how to discern a real believer from a "Garage Christian" (a person who is like a man standing in a garage claiming to be a car)? A caveat is important at this point. No human can truly and completely know another human's heart. So any conviction I might have about whether or not another person is a believer must be qualified by my acknowledgement that, "I might be wrong."

I can listen to what a person says. I can see what a person does. So if some one tells me that they believe in Jesus as their Savior, with apparent understanding of what that means, I tend to believe them. And I consider what I know of their manner of life, whether it is consistent with their profession of faith (keeping in mind that every Christian is a work in progress). If the understanding and consistency are there, I view that person as my brother or sister in Christ. I'm open to fellowship with that person, to working with them in ministry, as appropriate with what is being done.

In terms of real interactions with real people, this can (and has) challenged my prejudices. For example, I disagree with many teachings and practices of the Catholic Church. The disagreements are, in my understanding of Scripture, real and substantial. At the same time, my interactions with Catholics have forced two conclusions on me - things I would have acknowledged intellectually, but which became real through those interactions. First, there are are true believers - my brothers and sisters in Christ - among Catholics. Second, a believer is a believer, regardless of the sign in front of the building where that person goes on Sunday morning. I know, really profound! Fellow believers deserve my recognition, fellowship and aid in ministry - as those are appropriate. There are no second-class or junior believers. Obviously, there are areas where we would disagree, areas of fellowship and ministry where I could not participate (nor they with me). But that is NOT an excuse for avoiding that brother or sister!

I know, it's tough! I might have to (eek!) think. I might have to understand and be able to express what I believe. I might have to learn from that fellow believer. And by recognizing, fellowshiping and aiding, I may be forcing similar experiences on that fellow believer. Welcome to the Body of Christ! Doing it is much harder than reading about it. That's why we need Christ and the Holy Spirit living and working in us!

When Might-Have-Beens and Reality Collide

At my current employer, quite a few people have been there 20, 30, 40, even 50 years. I'll admit having felt a twinge of something close to envy. Since 1993 I haven't been at any employer as long as 4 years. The idea of 30 or 40 years of "stability" had a certain appeal. Last evening I started thinking of all the employers I've left or who have left me.

I've been laid off 5 times since 1993, so, obviously, staying longer at those places wasn't an option. Two of those 5 companies have either essentially disappeared or so changed that, either way, I would probably still have been laid off, just a few years later. Of the other three, one was so marginal that its survival is an ongoing uncertainty - a layoff looking for its time. And a fourth, the 75-mile daily round-trip commute was getting really old (though I liked my work, the company, its products and its people) - not a good long-term prospect.

Of the three companies I left of my own volition, two are essentially gone, and I would have been laid off (due to hard times or moving the company's operations), just later. And the third, well, I had lost faith in the quality of its product, tried and failed to drive a meaningful investigation into its quality, and I was miserable. So, none of those companies was a reasonable chance for a long-term stay.

Might-have-beens fare poorly in the face of cold, hard, rational, examination. God really does know best - in guiding our choices and in making our "choices" for us.