When Division Has Purpose

Yesterday, I saw in my spirit an image I think might describe some of what is taking place in the Church. I saw the image of a single cell like I was viewing it under the intense magnification of a microscope at the moment the cell first divided and became two cells. The two cells were not divided to become two separate entities. In their division, they remained within the same organism. Future health and expression involved a process multiplication. Their continued development required they separate and become two, then four, and then eight and so on. The division and separation was a process that allowed the development of something that could not yet be seen.

Under very close observation we discern only the division of the single cell, not the larger organic whole being created. This is true in biology and it is true in our understanding of God and the Church. While the basics of our doctrine and theology must remain intact or we will not have biblical faith, there is so much more that must divide in order to grow.

Today, be careful about the over-intense magnification of a particular issue before you understand the larger image that is being formed. We live in a time of “experts” and proponents of a single cell understanding of faith. This creates a concept of God and His Kingdom that is overly-simplistic and leads to bondage. Jesus addressed this issue. 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23: 23-24).

Faith is not rigid. It can uncomfortably multiply without our permission under the influence of the Spirit and move the mission of the Church outside our current microscopic understanding. It is important to continually invite God to expand our vision. Faith never parks. The expanding expression of the Church is always multiplying beyond our current level of comprehension. 

We are being called by God to expand our field of vision in order to see something larger He is doing. If we fail to heed this call, we will continue to defend a single cell theory of faith and become suspicious of anything new taking place outside our current field of view and our current level of understanding.