Thoughts on Christian Living Book #2 by Dr. W. A. Dillard - HTML preview

DIVIDED WE STAND, UNITED WE FALL

When one thinks outside the proverbial box, he tends to see the inversion of what is commonly conveyed by conventional wisdom. The proverb under consideration is most often heard as, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.” If this be true, and in many contexts it is, then how could the inverted proverb also be true, and especially true in various contexts? Let’s think for a minute!

The Bible emphatically affirms the unity of man in his natural state. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23. “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Rom 3:10. Sin has unified men in their entire being, mind, body, and spirit. It is a unity that will bring the ultimate, eternal fall.

However, the Bible also affirms the possibility of proper division in Christ Jesus. “He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Accepting, in repentance from sin, and exercising faith in Christ Jesus as one’s sin substitute brings division, and perpetual warfare within each recipient. But it is a division that will ensure life in heaven for eternity.

The division continues. In the individual, old things pass away in the new creation of self, 2 Cor. 5:17. In the home, Jesus does not bring peace, but a sword of division, Matt. 10:34-39. In the church, growth in knowledge and grace widens the separation to which God’s people are called, 2 Cor. 6:17-18.

So, it is in the division, not in the unity that one is prepared for the hereafter with God. It is the separating power of the Holy Spirit in one’s life that his eternal destiny is heaven. It is by division from the natural life that eternal reward is determined, Rev. 22:10. It is only in this division that one may be reconciled to God. 2 Cor. 5:19-21.

The clarion call of Holy Writ is to separation, i.e., division from the united, natural order. Being reconciled to God truly brings the highest order of unity, but as these terms apply to the natural man, it must be understood that “Divided we stand; united we fall.”

FOR THOUGHT: Do you now see that because God is totally righteous, and every man is totally a sinner by nature, that to be reconciled to God brings division to every believer. The more one is sanctified to Him, the more divisive it is to the fleshly nature, but that is the strait gate and the narrow road to blessings here and hereafter. Every person should be so divided.

60