I was talking with a coworker yesterday, recalling an illustration by Joseph Aldrich, author of Lifestyle Evangelism. He said that many in the church are like caged hunting dogs. With no birds to hunt, they turn on one another, biting and fighting. When set loose to do that for which they were trained, they work together to accomplish their goal.

When the church turns inward, we can fight over whether that was a gnat or a mosquito that we strained out of our water. When we turn our focus outward, we can find the unity described in the Word.

I’ve found that illustration to be very helpful to me over the years.