1 Timothy 3:15 tells us that the church exists to be "a pillar and buttress of the truth" and by doing so bring unity to the body.
However, nowadays, the pursuit of truth as correctness seems more to be a cause of division than a cause for unity. That's because the truth has nothing to do with political or doctrinal correctness, but rather has everything to do with the Person of Jesus Christ as being the truth in the flesh.
Understanding Jesus Christ and His heart leads us to the truth. What was it that mattered most to Him? This is well stated in the greatest commandment He gave us, which is to love God the most and then love others. Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
It's sad to see nowadays that many of the people who can't get along with Christians are fellow Christians. Instead of coming together as one body as God would have us, in our broken nature we allow pride and offence to destroy relationships among us believers.
The saddest part is that many so-called Christians pursue quarrelling, debating and arguing. They fight over what's wrong, what's right, what's permissible and what's noble to the point that they abandon love and gentleness for the sake of political correctness with the belief that their behaviour is a fruit of their love for God. But note how God never says that the fruit of the Spirit is not doctrinal correctness, but rather love, kindness, gentleness and even self-control.
Some of us think that the Christian faith is the pursuit of the most crisp-cut doctrine or most foolproof theology. And while doctrine and theology are important, they are not what is really most important. God calls us to pursue kindness and love towards one another first and foremost. He made that clear all throughout His ministry and life.
Although teaching was important, what mattered most to Jesus was His relationship with His people. Before leaving earth, He asked Peter the question "Do you love me?" He didn't ask Peter a corporate, theological, doctrinal question, but a relational question.
Romans 12:10 says it best that we are to "...love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour."
That's not to say that we no longer pursue doctrinal correctness. But doctrine is best worked out together, not against each other.
As believers, we can value so many different things, and that's because God makes us that way.
But God does put in all of us an undeniable value for relationships with each other. We need to pursue that next to God. We can pursue so many things, but at the end of the day, the greatest of all of these is love.
