Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

When some people come to faith in Jesus Christ, they are soon pulled off to another direction, far from the liberty and grace that God has given to them. Cults, unsound doctrine, and false movements can pull the unsuspecting away from the truth, making shipwreck of their faith.

At the age of 18 I came to believe, putting my trust in God through the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ. What I didn’t understand was the finished part — there was nothing I could do to repay God for my sins, but I didn’t know that at the time.

Soon, I was pulled in by those whose motives were selfish and whose doctrine was a lie — I became entangled with a group of “believers” who everyone else was calling a cult. Never mind that we read the Bible or that we agreed with most of what other Christians believed, but the legalisms and twisting of truth soon distorted everything. Liberty was traded in for works and even then our works were never quite good enough.

Thankfully, I moved on after eight months but the residual impact of my experience  lingered. I ran far from the Lord and even when I returned several years later, I found myself repeating earlier mistakes — I got caught up yet again with those who were quick to entangle me.

Many years have gone by and I am far removed from those who espouse false teachings.  I no longer am attracted to the sort of movements that can destroy my faith as Biblical wisdom has replaced man-inspired doctrine. Yes, reading the word of God and waiting upon Him for guidance has taught me much about grace and liberty, twin pillars of the faith that guides me today.

If you are caught up in a movement that isn’t inspired of God, then please take my advice: flee from that entanglement and ask God to show you the way through His word. Extracting yourself can be painful, but the wisdom God wants to impart to you will be like the balm of Gilead — soothing to your soul.

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Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

With more than two thousand denominations, sects, and nondenominational bodies, the Church of Jesus Christ seems to be anything but unified. Some of the divisions are cultural, others are doctrinal, while still others are kind of hard to pinpoint. If you were to delve into the various splits that have occurred down through the ages, you would probably find one particular event that brought about each separation.

It is my opinion that most divisions point to the inability of people to find a common ground when worshiping the Lord. Of course, if Biblically-accepted doctrine is put to the side, then separation must take place for the sake of maintaining doctrinal purity. I just wonder if some of the splits down through the ages involved church power struggles or over a particular disagreement of insignificance.

For more than two years now I have been part of a weekly men’s group where we study scripture, pray and encourage one another. We meet for one hour before we go to work, starting our week off seeking the Lord and encouraging one another. As time has gone by I have seen our group get stronger as the men are actively participating and are encouraging each other. We all attend the same church, but our backgrounds, jobs, ages, and ethnicities are quite different — what is common to each of us is our faith in Jesus Christ.

Reading the rest of Psalm 133 gives a vivid illustration on how much of a blessing the Psalmist considered the unity of God’s people to be — like oil running down the beard and garments of Aaron; like dew found on Mounts Hermon and Zion. The result? Life forevermore.

As a follower of Jesus Christ we can and will disagree on some nonessential points and that is to be expected. Unity that really matters doesn’t overlook essential doctrine, but affirms and strengthen core beliefs the same faith once delivered to the saints.

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