Session 5

Are you following the wrong person?

From Pursuing Uncommon Unity: A 7-Day Devotional

Somewhere along the way, relationship has turned into follow-ship. We follow celebrities, sports teams, and friends on Instagram. We find people who like what we like, who follow who we follow, and we divide into smaller and smaller circles.

This doesn’t just happen in politics and pop culture, but among Christians as well. We follow a favorite pastor, worship leader, or church, and soon we know more about what they say than what Jesus says.

The apostle Paul noticed the same thing happening in the church in Corinth. People in the church were saying, “I belong to Paul” and others, “I belong to Apollos.” They began to follow their favorite pastors rather than following Jesus, and division soon followed.

It’s good to appreciate leaders and churches (Hebrews 13:7). But when appreciation for a person creates a deeper association with them than we have with Jesus, our affections are misplaced. Our pastors didn’t die for us; Jesus did. We aren’t baptized in the name of our church; we’re baptized in Jesus’ name.

People who are “perfectly united in mind and thought” make the conscious choice to pursue Jesus above all else (1 Corinthians 1:10). This is the unity Jesus’ church is to be known for.

When we remember who we follow and that we’re all one family in Christ, the Gospel begins to sound like good news again. The world is familiar with division. But heads turn when a group of people put preferences aside and declare, “In Jesus name, we are one.”

Reflect:

• Have you ever let allegiance toward a person or place create division in your life? What was that season like?
• Has a disagreement kept you from unity with another Christian? What’s one step you can take to resolve that dispute today?