Do you ever look at the disunity in the church and wonder what the heck is going on? Why do some Christians espouse only grace and mercy without a whisper of repentance, while others yell about the judgment of God; failing to soften the blow with the equal force of God’s unfailing love and forgiveness?

There is a never-ending struggle between the two; it seems: between lawlessness and legalism. Some Christians take God’s mercy for granted and fear seeming judgmental; some develop a critical spirit and fear the implications of false teaching.

And then there are those “Christian” leaders who celebrate what God calls sin. They don’t dare teach that Jesus is the only truth. That would be way too arrogant! They are soaked, every inch, in the ways of the world. They quote “verses” from the Enneagram and the Law of Attraction. They malign Christians who have the audacity to speak up for life or against children mutilating their bodies. They do more harm to people seeking God than any secular influence ever could. They are the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

So how do we know if we are on the right path?

The only solution is to make sure we are in a church that preaches the full counsel of God; not just the sound bites a particular group of people happen to prefer.

You see, the Bible isn’t about our preferences. It’s about God. And we don’t get to tweak who he is to make him more palatable. After all, his name is “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14) not “I AM WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO BE.”

Truth matters. Good works divorced from the gospel will burn up in the end. Truth without love won’t draw anyone closer to Jesus.

I think, if we’re honest, each of us lean more heavily one way or another. We must each repent of the areas in which we are not fully submitted to Christ and move forward in obedience to the commandments of God. And one of those commandments is to seek unity within the church.

After all, if we are all following Jesus, shouldn’t we would be walking in the same direction?

Angela