Strife

The world is full of strife. And it is never comfortable to, at times, be one of its catalyst. God, of course, does not want strife in His church; yet, Paul and others have felt the need to confront difficulties in certain churches and have, thereby, caused strife. Our Lord Himself told His disciples that He came into the world to wield a sword--even in families in which some were Christians and some were not.
Strife in the church is usually over doctrine or practice. Such was the case with Paul's letters to the Corinthians and the Galatians. One group was engaged in spiritual pride and its ramifications. Their church was loveless, carnal, and indifferent to sin and its impact on the holiness of God's people. One group was being misled in the very nature of the Gospel of grace. They were teaching a false gospel, a gospel of works that could redeem no one. Paul in those cases did not put unity above truth. Yet the truths he taught were presented in love with the goal of restoring true unity, though, at times those truths were presented quite bluntly. Paul admonished from a broken heart, but he did admonish nonetheless. Paul was just imitating His Savior who could be quite blunt at times Himself when confronting error.
Sometimes, though, our strife is over non-issues. We argue with each other over things that are not biblically wrong or right, just our preference or just related to the "speed" at which someone is growing in his or her walk with Him. And, of course, such strife is really then just spiritual arrogance on both sides. We have canonized our ideas, our experiences, our fears, our hopes, and our opinions instead of embracing the freedom that God has given to the church in areas of preference. Such self-righteousness causes us to substitute fear, control, and self-pity for genuine love and concern. Instead of falling on our knees and seeking God's leading and instruction in our own fallible hearts, we criticize, falsely judge, and become angry at those who have chosen a path or embraced an idea that we are in disagreement with, and yet, God is completely silent on the matter. It is always dangerous to speak for God when God has nothing to say on the matter. Because someone disagrees with me in areas of freedom that does not mean that they are in rebellion, let alone that they don't love me, let alone that they are somehow in the "wrong," let alone that there is a "wrong" in that area to begin with. There's nothing wrong with sharing my opinions--but as opinions, not truth. When I try to claim that His will is my will, I can only cause alienation, perhaps even undermine the other person's ability to trust in God's leading in his or her life. I can become a stumbling block in their path toward spiritual maturity. Nothing is more dangerous than to try to control other people's lives instead of trusting God to do so. We always make a poor substitute for Him.