Have you noticed how much division there is in the world? Cultures, countries, politics within a country, genders, family issues, races, sexual orientation, sports teams, even the idea of “tolerance” ends up being divisive. Just look around and you will find there are a myriad of items that divide us from one another.
In 1 John 1 the apostle starts out that he and the other apostles have been with Jesus and testify to what they have “seen and heard” that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is the “Word of life”.
He goes on to say that: “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all”. The term light is a metaphor used in the bible for knowledge, spiritual purity, exposed for all to see, and spiritual truth. This is who God is.
And he says: “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Walking in the light will result in fellowship with one another.
This is the key to restoring the one family of humanity that God originally designed in the Garden before sin entered into the world is to be: “in the light”, in God. I think of the story of the shepherd going after the one and leaving the 99. Of course, this is because the one is important, but also it restores the flock back to 100%. When Jesus returns the one lost sheep the whole flock is back together whole again.
The solution to reverse divisiveness is not tolerance. It is being in the light of God himself. To live in God is to live in love and grace, truth, forgiveness, mercy. To see “rightly”.
We live in a fallen world, a broken world. I picture a welder bent over and concentrating, focused and working to fuse the family of humanity back together again. Jesus is the welder at work, the Word,spreading the knowledge of God, the light, to restore humanity back together and back in relationship with the Father.
Barnabas Man 