And The Converse Is ...

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1) Since our culture tends to focus on the negative, I'll look at the opposite of that verse: Ignore how bad and unpleasant it is for brethren to dwell divided in disunity. Now, that's easy to do because it's typical of congregational "life", not only today, but since Yeshua established the church. We seem to be happier and more fulfilled when we ignore our corporate attitudinal problems, our interpersonal squabbles and our factitious divisions. If it is indeed good and pleasant to dwell in unity--as it must be since Bible tells says it--then it is bad(translated, sinful)and unpleasant not to. The question is, "If disobeying is unpleasant, why do we persist in it?" One answer is, "Habit." Now, that's one of those exceedingly long short words, because it seems deceptively simple. Though many of us came to Messiah at a relatively early age, the habit of living in the flesh and successfully ignoring it became ingrained. The Bible calls it the Old Man, or the Flesh. Since God commands us, through his Word, to crucify that guy and leave him there to rot in God's light and heat ... well, we need to do it. We need to do it, just as a living body needs to breathe. We don't breathe out of obedience; it's part of living. And we all know what the converse of that is ... (DISCLAIMER: While the philosopher will pick at my use of converse in this essay, it suits my meaning better than the more strictly correct word, opposite ... so there!)