Love for all of God's people
Examining Paul's daring writing
I grew up in a local assembly that practiced huge segregation to a fault.
We learned isolation both by indirect and direct indoctrination. We always saw ourselves as better than people from other churches, not to mention unbelievers.
It is not clear if the church intentionally taught this or if this segregation spirit was an offshoot of wrong teaching. A lot can be learned when you hear wrongly.
It was so bad that this isolation mentality trailed me everywhere. Even in my days in the higher institution, I barely made any friends. Even among fellow believers, it was difficult to mingle.
Some people know how to remain in the middle—not here, not there. For someone like me, I’m only in fully or totally out. So my experience may differ from some other people who also had a similar background to mine.
Well, things have changed a lot today.
Most young people from the church now care very little about isolation and segregation from other believers. No, I don’t think they blur the lines on their convictions, but I will say they’re beginning to understand the gift of the body more. This should not be a surprise, though. The founder himself has broken out of some very age-long segregating mindsets.
But that’s not the reason for this write-up.
While studying Colossians 1 today, I found something very interesting.
Paul commended the Colossian believers because of their faith in Christ Jesus and LOVE for ALL of God’s people (Colossians 1:4).
On a random reading, this verse wouldn’t pass for much, but in meditation, I began to see the carefulness in those words.
‘LOVE for ALL of God’s people.’
Didn’t Paul know that among this ‘ALL of God’s people,’ there might be some people who may not understand God’s word perfectly and hence should have warned the Colossians to separate themselves?
We know Paul was big on falsehood and those who peddled errors in the body. He taught extensively what should be the believer’s response to such persons.
We should not shy away from correcting errors when we see them. It is a collective duty for every member of the body.
But the belief that you’re better than everyone else and that you have no need of them, thus separating yourself from them, will never make sense to me.
A true proof that you’re learning accurately and also growing rightly is a deep love for ALL of God’s people.
If you find yourself in a place where you have little regard for other people not from your denomination, I think and believe that you have a very serious problem.