Us vs. Them

Too many people who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus believe they got it right, and everyone else got it wrong. This mentality creates a very strong ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ mentality. Too many hold to this idea, and I am of the mind that it is the most destructive force in the body of Christ.

In Mark’s narrative [9:38-41] John had that same frame of mind. He saw a person teaching in the name of Jesus, but who was not part of “their” little group. John told Jesus, “I put a stop to it.” I think he must have been shock when Jesus did not agree with his actions, in fact the narrative shares that “Jesus was not pleased.” Jesus told John, “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down.”

You see, if Jesus is the center of who we are, all the individual church, denominational, or other theology will not matter when we meet people who differ. The idea is that in Christ there is no ‘us’ or ‘them’ there is only ‘we.’ Your individual method of baptism, or communion, or music, or gender, or orientation should not matter – what should matter is that we show the world how much we love, bu loving each other.