Deflate-Gate in the Church?!

Some would say that Deflate-Gate is one of the stupidest sports controversies to ever surface! If you missed it or this headline is foreign to you, here's the skinny. There are allegations that the New England Patriots used game balls that were under-inflated during the AFC Championship Game. Eleven out of twelve balls were under inflated by two pounds. How bizarre, how crazy, of all the things to talk about in the world. The consensus is that unless there is a video of someone actually inserting a needle removing air, we will really never know what happened or who is responsible for Deflate-Gate. Yet the media and everyone in and outside the sports world continues to talk about Deflate-Gate. Did anyone miss the final score of the AFC Championship Game? The score was the Patriots 45-7 over the Colts. Colts Dwayne Allen said this on twitter about Deflate-Gate "They could have played with soap for balls and beat us. Simply the better team. We have to continue to build!" I don't know the answer; we probably will never know what exactly happened. Regardless, all the attention has been put on deflated balls instead of what really matters, and the ultimate outcome of the game.

Here's my question: How has the church become just like Deflate-Gate? How have the people of God allowed their attention to be so misguided that we are focusing on the wrong things: things that ultimately don't matter and don't have any eternal impact. Furthermore, the rest of the world looks at us and questions "if they are so caught up in the mundane fighting and arguing about something that ultimately doesn't change the score of the game, then why would we want to be a part of anything they are doing?" The "see I told you so…" seems to run rampant, and our reputation and reach becomes tainted. I've seen Deflate-Gate happen in so many churches, from fights that have ensued over the color of the carpet to so-called "worship wars" between classical and contemporary worship music. Wars, by the way, that nobody outside the church is fighting or talking about. They are, however catching glimpses of "church" and wondering why are they fighting against each other and why would I want to be a part of that?! There are so many things that we allow to divide us, all under the same guise of "following Jesus" or serving Him. I am curious as to what Jesus actually thinks about all this...to see all of His children at each others' throats, fighting about things that don't change the outcome of the game or eternity...that derail the whole focus of why we do what we do as we follow Jesus? I can't help but think that our spiritual enemy, the devil, is left in the corner railing with laughter as he continues to "deflate the balls" of the church, giving one more reason for infighting and another reason for those outside the Kingdom of God to never want to enter in. I wonder how Deflate-Gate in the church is actually detrimental to the prayer Jesus prays for us, His church? This prayer of Jesus we call the "High Priestly Prayer" is recorded for us in John 17. Here is an excerpt:

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."

I'm the last to pretend that I know all the answers, and I am not proposing that the "Church" should throw away all doctrine and practice. That would be as wise as removing the spine from one's body. What I am proposing is that the church focus on the things of Jesus--things that will go on into eternity and stand the test of time. His ways and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven should be our prayer. I am proposing that the church fight like Jesus. The only fight we should embark on is one that comes against all evil. We should be found fighting for the "least of these" that they may hear the very words of Jesus and know the love of the Father seen in the epicenter of the cross. For this much I am sure.

May the world know us for the love of Jesus and our unity in Him, and not the fights we pick against each other.