I shuffled along through the dirt, water can subtly shifting my weight, water shower generously dampifying the vegetable plants. (Were they corn, beans, beets, or squash? I don’t remember and you don’t care.)
“Which is more important?” The weight of the question shifted my mind this way and that. “Pulling together. Standing for truth. Pulling together. Standing for tru…”
I concluded that if I must choose one over the other, I will choose truth.
Actually, though, I vote for standing together on truth so we can truly pull together. If we don’t stand on truth, we will slip and slide while trying to pull together. You just can’t pull well when you aren’t on solid footing. I would even argue that you can’t pull safely in such a circumstance.
Now let’s adjust the question a bit…
walking together or walking in truth?
A few days ago I was blessed by the realization that the answer to these questions lies in 1 John 1:7. Listen…
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
In Christ’s church, the way to God-approved pulling together (“fellowship one with another”) is living in truth (“walk in the light”). Fellowship one with another must never trump walking in the light. Unity is a dangerous priority when truth is made secondary.
When I walk in the light, the blood of Jesus becomes effective in my heart, cleansing me from all sin. When I walk in darkness, I become a breeding ground for divisiveness, self-absorption, bitterness, and all other fellowship-breaking evils.
I’ll walk in the Light. He is the Truth.
If you walk in the Light with me, we can pull together in fellowship together.