Donald Trump likes to refer to President Obama as the “great divider.” Wait! Don’t stop reading! This is NOT a political rant bent on causing some more Facebook drama. Trust me, Facebook already looks like Romper Room and it doesn’t need me throwing another temper tantrum into the screaming classroom of social media. Although it would be fun to talk about butt paste and how every politician could use some because they always get their diapers in a bunch but(t) I will save that for perhaps another day.

Folks, if you are still reading, I am going to make this simple and super, duper spiritual. The “great divider” has always been one person and one person only; Satan. As soon as I wrote that I immediately though of the Church Lady played by Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live; “could it be….”

From that very first moment in the garden Satan has been hard at work causing division wherever He can. His subtle whispers of “Did God really say?” echo within our hearts and minds and at times end up as violent screams towards the very people that we know and love. It’s brutal and at times it just feels evil. And, Satan, who tosses in these grenades of emotions will just sit back and laugh like The Joker as the explosions of anger, hatred and intolerance blast everyone around us. And I will just come out and tell you that the worst offenders are those of us who call ourselves Followers of Christ. If you want to know why people don’t want to come to church then just look in the mirror; it’s our fault. We treat each other like trash to the point that we no longer recycle once strong friendships.

Jesus said that the world (those who don’t know him) will know us by the LOVE that we show each other (John 13:35).

Paul said that our battle is NOT against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

The book of Acts tells the stories of the early church and how everyone was unified, no one had a need, people shared their belongings with each other, and miracles, signs and wonders began to follow them and people came to know Jesus and because of this the number of believers grew.

I raise my hand as the first one who will admit that I have not been kind and I will admit that I have spewed my fair share of division, especially on social media. I’m not your pastor, I’m not your dad and I’m not your boss but I am your friend. We have one common enemy and it’s not each other, it’s not a political party, it’s not a social issue and it’s not a church issue but it is a spiritual one as Paul said.

My prayer is that we would all do what David did and asked God to search our hearts and see if there would be any issue within us that we need to give to Him (Psalm 139:22-24).

24“If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25“If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26“If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished!…(Mark 3:24-26)