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And
I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto
carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not
with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are
ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying,
and strife, and divisions....
– 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
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Envying, strife and divisions
had reduced the early Corinthian Christians back to the natural, or
carnal, state that they were in before they were born again. It had so
stunted their spiritual growth that they couldn't understand the things
the Apostle Paul wanted to teach them.
Satan has sent the same
spirit of division among us today. He knows that a house divided against
itself will fall. He also knows if we all come together in the unity of
our faith, we'll arrive at the full stature of Christ Jesus (Ephesians
4:13). So he has assigned a spirit of division to operate in our
personal lives, our church lives, our social lives and our family lives.
His goal is the same as it was in Corinth: to bring envying, strife and
division, and to stunt our spiritual growth.
But we don't have to
yield to that spirit. Instead Paul says, "[by] speaking the truth in
love, [we] may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ" (Ephesians 4:15).
Compare "speaking the truth in love" to
"envyings, strife, and divisions." Diametrical opposites, aren't they?
You can't do both of them at the same time. As you speak the truth in
love, you grow up. As you envy, fuss and separate from one another, you
go back to babyhood.
Don't let Satan stop your spiritual growth by
giving in to the spirit of division but speak the truth in love and
"grow up into Him in all things!"
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