Fighting against Family

1 Kings 12:24 ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not fight against your relatives, the Israelites. Go back home, for what has happened is my doing!’” So they obeyed the message of the LORD and went home, as the LORD had commanded. The nation of Israel was now divided. Rehoboam was king of Judah, while Jeroboam was king of the other tribes of Israel. Rehoboam gathered together an army from Judah and Benjamin with a plan to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to himself. That's when God spoke the Word "Do not fight against your relatives, the Israelites". It makes me sad that God even had to say that. To tell His children not to fight against each other. A few thousand years later, He still has to say it. Unfortunately the church is still guilty of waging war against each other. We choose to spend our energy fighting with brothers and sisters in order to preserve our man made doctrines. Even among those of like faith, the church is often guilty of being an army that consistently shoots its wounded. As a Pentecostal believer, can I not stand shoulder to shoulder with all of my brothers and sisters in Christ? They may differ from me pertaining to the gifts of the Spirit, but they are washed in the same blood, regenerated and redeemed by the same Lord! What an army we become when we redirect our artillery to aim at the gates of hell instead of the church down the road. What an awesome church we become when we choose to love instead of judge. May we be so devoted to our own transformation and growth that we never have the time to search for the faults of others. Let me save you some time......if you search for faults in me, you will find plenty, and there are even more that you don't see. The good news for me is that God knows about everyone of them, and yet He has still made me "accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). Knowing me, and knowing that God still loves me that much, I just can't bring myself to fight against the church that He cared enough to die for. Can you?