At Odds with Each Other

The other day I had a friend come over to the house to pick up a couple of female cats to transport to his barn. He told me he had a rat problem, and I assured him they could handle that job. My father-in-law brought a female cat of his own over ahead of time in a cage, which was a siamese bob-tailed cat. When David arrived at the house we transferred the siamese cat over to his cage where we could get my father-in-law's cage back to him. That process went smoothly. Getting the other cats in that cage was a different story altogether.
I caught the first cat of mine and proceeded to stick her down in the cage. You would have thought a war started as the cats were hissing, screaming, swatting at each other and a ruckus had ensued. As if that wasn't bad enough, I caught my other cat and put her in the cage once all the malay settled down. Once she got in it started all over again and appeared to be World War III! Both boys were standing right there watching it all, Caroline was watching from the kitchen window and David's son, Alex was standing there with my boys and they were absolutely loving it. Those three cats had been forced into a small space with each other and they were not happy about it.
It reminds me of how that scene is applied to the church at times. Especially when the church has gathered under the same roof and there are people who are at odds with each other, it doesn't make for an ideal situation. Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment, "that you love one another" (John 13:34). John goes on to say in his first letter "if anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:20-21). Euodia and Syntyche were in a disagreement about something at the church in Philippi and Paul wanted this fixed (Phil. 4:2-3). We can't faithfully serve the Lord if we're at odds with each other.
Bob Sweeney used to talk all the time about "this human condition" and we see how that applies to the church. Those of us who are members of the body of Christ at times let our emotions and personalities get in the way of loving one another like we should. Let us remember that we are all in this together. Paul says "rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love" (Eph. 4:15-16). We can't do this if we are at odds with each other.
Have you been in a "cat fight" with someone where you haven't made the effort to fix the problem? The time is now to repair what needs fixing. If you're like these cats in the cage then your soul is in jeopardy. Brothers and sisters, let us not be at odds with each other. If we fight like cats down here what makes us think that we can live together harmoniously in Heaven?