One day, as I was driving on an errand, I got behind another car and something caught my attention. As I was waiting for the light to change, I noticed that the car had two bumper stickers on the back of the car. One was placed on the trunk lid and the other was directly below it on the bumper. The top one was one of those “Coexist” stickers which I rather detest. In fact, if I wasn’t so cheap and didn’t want to pay my deductible, I would like to accidently smash into the back of cars with those stickers on them. But I guess that would mean that I wasn’t peacefully co-existing with others. The other sticker was one that featured KU colors on one side and K-State on the other. The tag line was, “A house divided!” As I pondered the length of eternity, wondering why the light was taking so long, I also thought about those two stickers. It seemed to me that the person was sending mixed messages. All of the religions and political parties were supposed to forgo their beliefs in order to have world peace, and yet, in their own home they could foster a rivalry over two sports teams.
From one of the web sites that pawns the peace loving diatribe, I found the following:
Political slogans on bumper stickers are usually divisive. They serve to cast blame or divide. One notable exception to this trend is a new line of sticker featuring the word “Coexist” spelled out with symbols of various religious and political movements.
Perhaps the guy in front of me didn’t read that closely before he affixed both stickers to his car. Or, like most people, he didn’t give it any thought and might not know what he actually believes.
It is interesting to note, that many people attribute the phrase, “A house divided!” to Abraham Lincoln. That goes back to his famous statement on a nation divided by slavery where he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” However, the idea was not original with him. It is found in the Gospels and is a quotation of the words of Jesus.
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25)
“If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25)
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.” (Luke 11:17)
I am confident that most people reading this understand the importance of knowing what you believe. That is why one must emphasize the study and application of God’s Word. It is a safeguard from falling for whatever trend is popular and sending mixed messages. It is important that we take the time to think through the things that we say we believe. Our message and our lives need to be consistent. James gave us a good warning about that when he wrote that a double minded person is unstable in all of their ways.
When it comes to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we firmly believe that,
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” ( Acts 4:12)
Do you know what you believe? Do you know if you are sending mixed signals about your beliefs by the things you say versus the way that you live? Let us strive to be consistent in all areas of our lives.
Love God. Love others. Impact our community. Change the world.
Pastor Larry
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