A big thank you for those who took the time to wish me a happy birthday: it reminded me afresh of the undeserved grace of being part of the Body of Christ. I hope I never take this privilege for granted. It is a precious privilege to be in unity with blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. Had to drive to London, ON, today to meet with a dear brother, Stephen Mawdsley, an architect—we are doing a work together on architecture and Christianity. More on that as it develops.
Had an hour there and an hour back to pray and ponder. I rarely have the radio or podcasts or MP3s playing on such occasions. I simply love the silence. Spent some time thinking about the theme of my first paragraph above. Specifically, spent time thinking about the divisions that sometimes occur between true Christians. Whether it was power-brokerage or prickly temperaments or plain old sin that led to the breaks in the first place, so often far too many believers who have broken with other believers in the past seem quite happy with the status quo and are seemingly content to let the years go by without any attempt to reconcile. To be sure, theological purity is often adduced, but how rarely such is the real reason for the division. Maybe it is because I have been spending so much time reading Paul and his high view of the Church that such quarrels increasingly seem so petty to me and so foreign to the mindset of the Apostle.
It breaks my heart, though, to see the attitude of such brothers and sisters. And in the light of such, I understand better (though this too booggles the mind!) why one occasionally hears of true believers who, seeing such, give up on the local church. Shades of A.W. Pink!! Oh, for biblical balance and a willigness to confess sin and walk in the Light...