Our local church Cornerstone, during the ‘Lock-down’ gave away some books. One of these is a book that had a foundational impact on me when I was very young. I am just now reading it again, and I can see why it was such a valuable book. Because it was written over 120 years ago (or transcribed as it is from a sermon) it does have some cultural oddities, however, many great insights can come from a good critical reading. I want to quote a paragraph here. This is about the importance of fellowship with other believers outside of the home. In my life, I have meet many that outright forsake fellowship – something that Andrew Murray would call ‘sin’…
Murray, A. (1895)[2015], Absolute Surrender, RHP, Croydon, p.17
[I have paraphrased for simplicity sake]
Do you find that the greatest difficulty in your life is your relationships with other fellow-Christians? Don’t we all just want to just forget about it? Very often, people who work together have different temperaments and characters; these differences can lead to conflict. There are also differences of belief, like theology and the practice or method of ministry. Those who disagree in such matters tend to be very aggressive and insensitive in the way that they treat each other. The fact is that there are so many differences and these differences have led to so much separation in the Church, so much that it is actually frightening. The real scary thing is that this squabbling has come from people who have committed their lives to spreading the Love of God to the world. How can we spread the Love of God to others when we can’t practice it ourselves? It is a sad person who thinks they love, yet all they can do is point out what they don’t like about others. Sure, you can find all my errors and I can find all of yours, but how truly spiritual is a person who says, “Above all our differences there is a unity which we must express; we want continual fellowship in the presence of our one Father.”