How can we take care not to feed into the prideful disunity and animosity we see around us, and against which we’re warned in the biblical book of James? The answer is: by allowing our identity in Christ to become our first identity, rather than any identification as Republican, conservative, Democrat, liberal, or anything in between. Indeed, God has given us the gift of being above and beyond worldly labels and entanglements.

Who is praying on the wall?  

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Unlike 100 years ago, America’s congregations in our day have, in addition to many theological and doctrinal divides, some unimaginable 21st-century cultural and political schisms. We also have many in our churches who carry another gospel, a cheapened one. All of this increases the confusion involving who and what the truth really is, as we are warned about in the apostles’ writings. These schisms have been exploited to cause inter- and intra-congregational animosity at nearly unprecedented levels in America. Spiritually, these are well-placed detractors from the unity toward which the LORD commands His blessing (according to Psalm 133), the unity through which the first-century ekklesia was said to have turned the world upside down.

Today, people are desperate, hurting, afraid. Consequently, unbelievers desperate for God’s redeeming grace are in need of the pure and full gospel — not counterfeits that leave them believing that God’s people are more concerned about labels and vain arguments, and not promises of a cheap grace that can never lead to repentance. And believers need a community of faith, hope, and, most of all, love that is pure — not mere groups in which acceptance is determined by things that are not of the kingdom. As believers, we sometimes receive a check in our spirit that warrants some individual or corporate time for the searching of our hearts, time during which we ask ourselves how and with whom (or with what) we identify most, thus allowing the LORD to reveal any anxious places within. If our immediate answer is anything other than Yeshua (Jesus) and His full gospel, then the LORD is calling us to repent.

And then, as we stand in the LORD, with pure hearts toward Him, we will become equal to that task Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians 2:14–15. And so, we give thanks to God, who in the Messiah leads us constantly in triumphal procession, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of what it means to know Christ! For, as Paul says, to God we are the aroma of the Messiah — both among those being saved and those being lost. To the latter, we are the stench of death leading only to more death; but to the former, we are the sweet smell of life leading to more life.

And truly, “who is equal to such a task?”

Share your prayers below for the unity in Christ of all believers.

Mavourene Robinson began in full-time ministry in 2014, campaigning for the Howard County Public Schools’ Board of Education in 2017–2018, and for the Maryland Senate in 2022. A lifelong learner about the intersections of faith with international relations and domestic policy, Mavourene is actively engaged in intercession for family, government, education, and religion. She releases prophetic insight at Judgment Begins in the House. Photo credit: RyanJLane from Getty Images Signature.