Put on Jesus Christ! ...

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  • By Danny Sanders, Pastor of Littlefield’s First United Methodist Church
    By Danny Sanders, Pastor of Littlefield’s First United Methodist Church
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“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. “ Galatians 3:27-28

I don’t know about you, but I am not liking at all what I have seen from early 2020 until now. It’s bad enough that we have this COVID-19 virus to contend with, but what disappoints me more than anything is to see our cities, businesses, and now even our National Capital being attacked and looted with people who are so divided hurting each other or at least saying vile things to each other.

In short, I hate to see how divided we are. So, most people will say there is someone at fault. Let the finger pointing begin!! I would caution you to remember that old saying that when you point your finger at someone, look and you will see three more pointed back at you! That saying is very true. If we want to find our way to the peace that we desire in this country we have to start with ourselves and come to grips with some things. The first thing is that we are responsible at least for some of the division.

This may be a bad analogy, but it is the only one I have today so bear with me. I have a friend named Johnny Rosemond. I bet a lot of you know him. Johnny is amazing. He is smart, kind, handsome, and almost as cool as I am. HaHa!! But Johnny has one awful, terrible trait; he is a Philadelphia Eagles fan! As a fan of the right team (Dallas Cowboys) I get almost sick when I see Johnny dressed in an Eagles shirt or hat! I wonder if he feels the same way when I wear Cowboys attire?

But isn’t that the way it is when we go to football games or other events where there are two sides? If we live in our humanness, the other side is our enemy, and we can dislike or even hate them without even knowing them.

Now, back to my finger pointing. Have you ever been guilty of this? I’m pretty sure I am guilty. I don’t know about you, but you need to answer that honestly if you want to experience the peace that you are looking for.

What I see in our country and our world is that we are putting on everything but Christ. You know, we put on the colors of our favorite teams, our political parties, our countries, our different races, our different genders... But what if we put on the one thing that would unify us? Yes, friends, that is Jesus Christ!

As it says above, we are all one in Jesus Christ! Now back to Johnny. Because of Christ, living in me, and because I am clothed in Christ, I do not see the Philadelphia Eagles clothes, I do not see a different political party, I do not see a different color. No, I see what I told you before a smart, kind, handsome, almost as cool as I am Brother!

We are one. That is the way God intended it, and the way it will be as soon as we decide to give authority over to God and put on Christ. The teams, parties and all of the things that we like to follow should not even come close to our oneness in Christ. That is when we know we’ve grown up! That is when we experience peace! That is when we are truly one!

Many people do not know or believe in Jesus, so they will continue to point fingers and hate one another. If you are a believer it is incumbent on us to be a light to those who don’t believe. Quit the finger pointing, even though you have a belief or idea of what is right, put on Christ first then talk with your brother or sister who may see things different than you.