Scripture to Read: Romans 16:17
As beautiful as the descriptions were of the Christians who served our Lord in Paul’s day in the last two days’ devotions, we find a word of caution today in Romans 16:17. God led Paul to write, “17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.” The spiritual forces of darkness are constantly at work (Ephesians 6:11–12) and they will seek to use carnal Christians (1 Corinthians 3:1–3, 3 John 1:9–11) or people who are still lost in their sin (2 Corinthians 4:3–4, 2 Timothy 2:25–26) to cause problems within the body of Christ. Awareness of those causing dissensions and hindrances is critical to protecting the unity within the church. God has too much for His children to do (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:14, Titus 3:8, Titus 3:14) for any of us to get caught up in fleshly arguments or to allow tools of the enemy to creep in and start causing problems. To keep our eye on those causing problems means we treat them biblically. So, if we know the troublemaker is a follower of Christ, we deal with them according to Matthew 18:15–17 and Galatians 6:1–2. Sometimes we’re tempted to do nothing because we’re afraid of causing more problems but that would be wrong. We must always deal with people according to God’s Word and seek restoration and healing for everyone involved.
Challenge & Application
· How would you say you are doing regarding not getting caught up in dissensions and hindrances within the body of Christ?
· What are you doing to stay submitted to God and His Word so that you are helping keep the body of believers unified?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!