Daily Devotion With Pastor Dan – August 14th, 2020
(Philippians 4:2)….I implore (plead with) Euodia and I implore (plead with) Syntyche to be of the same mind (agree with each other) in the Lord.
Paul is addressing a situation in the church where there was conflict. Euodia and Syntyche were two women in the church in Philippi that we don’t know very much about, except that they had labored with Paul in the gospel. We don’t even know what the conflict was about. But what we know is that conflict among Christians can be devastating to the spiritual life of the church.
Why is there so much conflict? Is it due to our pride? Probably! Is it due to our selfishness, personal preferences, our own opinion, control? Most certainly yes! Sometimes we have conflict because we simply want our own way. But when it comes to the Lord’s church, these personality traits of the flesh can be devastating. If we are going to be effective in the church we must walk together in agreement. Not to compromise on important doctrines of Scripture, but laying aside trivial things that would bring division (1 Corinthians 1:10-13) (James 4:1-6).
Unity is a testimony to the world that God the Father sent God the Son into this world to be our Savior (John 17:20-26). So we must determine to walk together in unity for the sake of the Gospel, recognizing that we are part of a body that needs to stay unified. May the concern that Paul had for Euodia and Syntyche be the same concern we have in the body of Christ as the times get tougher.