Sadly, conflicts and divisions within our own church communities have become all too common. Differences in opinion, leadership styles, priorities, or even personality clashes often lead to misunderstandings, gossip, and even verbal harm. These struggles are not new. They echo the tensions we see in the earliest Christian communities, where new believers wrestled with how to follow Jesus in the midst of diverse backgrounds and expectations.
It is in this complex reality that we must pause and reflect on what the Church is really about: its mission, its message, and the love that should bind us together. Throughout his letters, the apostle Paul calls believers to be mindful of both themselves and their teaching. He warns about false doctrines and urges the pursuit of sound teaching. Yet too often, these phrases have been used to justify exclusion and division, rather than reconciliation and understanding.
We must also acknowledge that our theological perspectives and our ways of reading the Bible shape how we relate to one another. Sometimes, instead of becoming tools for deeper understanding and spiritual growth, these approaches become reasons to judge and separate. Theological disagreements are not new, but spiritual maturity does not come from always being right. It comes from learning how to love, even in the midst of disagreement.
In today’s church, we may not speak of “sound doctrine” in the same way, but we still act as if each of us possesses the only true vision for what the church should be.
We say things like: I am with this group, or I follow that leader. I prefer tradition, or I believe in progress.
And without realizing it, we fall into the same trap Paul names in 1 Corinthians 3, where jealousy, rivalry, and division mark the lives of those still living on spiritual milk rather than solid food.
But what does Jesus say? In John 13:35, he offers a radically simple marker of true discipleship: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Not by our correctness, our programs, our positions, or our platforms, but by our love.
Jesus also speaks of the stone the builders rejected in Matthew 21:42, the one that becomes the cornerstone. This is a powerful image. Sometimes in church life, we start building something meant to reach the heavens, filled with good intentions. But if we leave Christ’s love and humility out of the foundation, our efforts will confuse and divide rather than bless and unite. This reminds us of the story of Babel in Genesis 11, when the people, in their desire for power and control, built a tower for their own glory. God intervened with confusion to protect them from themselves.
But Pentecost gives us a different story. When the Spirit comes upon the early church in Acts 2, people of many nations hear the Good News in their own language. Unity is not achieved by everyone speaking the same way. It happens when we are moved by the same Spirit. It happens when our hearts are softened toward each other. It happens when love is the foundation.
The stone once rejected becomes the cornerstone. And when we build on Christ, not on abstract theology but on his life of compassion, humility, service, and forgiveness, then we build something that lasts. It is not theory or labels that define the Church, but the presence of Christ’s love in our life together.
We may never agree on every decision, sermon, or interpretation. But we can and must choose to understand each other. Understanding is not the same as agreement. It means recognizing differences without devaluing one another. It means honoring the person more than the position. That is spiritual maturity. That is love.
As Pastor Joshua Mojica wisely said “I would rather lose the argument and win my brother, than win the argument and lose my brother.”
Let us choose love. Let us build on the cornerstone. That is the path of spiritual maturity.
Warmly,
Rev. David A Gaitan
