Acts 15:24-Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,

I think everyone knows how hurtful words can cause deep wounds, which divides people’s heart from each other.  But do we think about people who are “positive” with good intentions, that can be just as troubling, because they have a flawed philosophy and belief about life?

In the context of this passage, some new Gentile believers were unsettled in their faith, because some believing Jews came along adding to the gospel, telling them that they need to be circumcised (Acts 15:2).  Although this “addition” may not have been evil in it’s intent, it was irrelevant to the vision God gave the apostles in spreading the gospel, and needed to be handled.

Circumcision by this time, was serving a cultural agenda of the Jews, but was irrelevant to the Gentiles and the gospel universally.  Much like the believing Jews who desired Gentiles to be circumcised, we as people like to nuance things according to what is comfortable to us, disregarding what maybe “unsettling” to those who are not familiar with our “cultural comforts”…

This is why unity as Christians first starts with Christ being Lord, and His Word being our standard to strive for and corrected under.  For a vision like the apostles had, to spread the gospel to all people.  Anything that is not necessary/biblical, that could unsettle or trouble people who desire unity in Christ, should be discarded.

If you live with anyone, you know very well that though people’s intentions may not be evil, what they say and do can be unsettling for you!  Some things with people we can put up with, but if someone believes completely different than we do, unity is compromised (Matthew 12:25).  What unsettles the heart is usually not little things, that just requires more patience and understanding.  But when the foundation of what we are about is not in sync, that unsettles the heart and mind, because what we are striving for cannot be accomplished without unity at the foundation.

In His Love, Ld