Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Causes of Disunity”. This week’s lesson look’s at various Scriptural examples of division in the history of Israel and in the early Christian church. And in these accounts, we are trying to understand the causes. Please study these lessons and these accounts. And as you read and study, pay attention to the underlying reasons for this disunity. In some ways, it is trying to untangle a mess. Trying to decipher all the reasons for the dissension. But in the end there is a basic principle that undergirds all dissension and disunity (that’s a bold contention on my part). And that basic principle is the disunity that is in the heart of every man. The fact that we have a divided heart and mind.
Throughout scripture, various writers commented on this issue. For example, David asked God to “teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name” (Psalm 86:11). Paul spoke of the warring in his mind, personifying the pull of worldliness; “but I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body” (Romans 7:23 GNB). And of course Christ Himself called us to have a single mind, referring to us having a single “eye” or undivided mind… “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matthew 6:22). This is the grand issue. It all started in the “Garden” long ago…
When Adam and Eve sinned, they each started to build a “wall” or “curtain” in their minds to hide their guilt behind. This barrier in the mind is seen in their response to God. A failure to admit the truth and to face the truth of things. This “wall/ curtain” is what divides our conscious mind from our subconscious mind. A “wall/ curtain” that enables our guilt to be hidden or even denied. Psychologists admit that it is this subconscious guilt (behind the “wall/ curtain”) that motivates so many negative coping behaviors in so many people. This divided mind is the result of our human attempt to deal with our sin; and is the cause of our internal disunity. We live a conscious life that is socially acceptable. But our subconscious mind is full of sinful lusts and sinful desires. Lusts and desires we strive to overcome or even deny. It is truly the “habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Revelation 18:2).
Yet this “wall/ curtain” is used by God for our benefit. If we were to experience our full guilt, the full realization of our sin, it would kill us outright. So even though we were not created with a divided mind, God in His great love, uses it for our good. He only shows us one thing at a time… one guilt at a time… as we are able to see. He shows it to us with the full assurance that we are loved and that we are forgiven. If not, we would never allow the evil “stuff” behind the “wall/ curtain” to be seen (we put it behind the curtain because we could not deal with it to begin with. Why should we look at it again??). When He shows us this “one thing” at a time, we are led by His Spirit to decide if we want to keep it or give it to Him. Submit it to Him.
So slowly over time, the “stuff” behind the “wall/ curtain” is given-up (hopefully) and the “wall/ curtain” slowly dissolves or separates. We then start to enjoy the true place we were designed to fill. That place? An undivided mind. A mind wholly committed to God and to following Him. This is the mind that Christ had. As a human, He always had the propensity to build this “wall/ curtain”, like we all have. But through continual submission to His Father, that “wall/ curtain” in the mind was never allowed to be built. His mind was always open to the Father with nothing hidden. No disunity.
We can have this experience, too. Through His Holy Spirit, we can start the demolition. For until the “wall/ curtain” comes down, we will always be “double minded”. “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8) and so are we unstable as long as we refuse to open the door in the “wall” of our mind and allow our Savior to come in. He will not hurt us nor force us. He will not wrench the door open nor wrench our sin from us. It is purely voluntary. May we welcome Him and be healed. It is the only way to confront our disunity and to start the healing so desperately needed. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8). Let us draw near. He longs to heal us from all our pain.
With brotherly love,
Jim