Galatians 2:1-10

Galatians 2:1-10 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  So I was driving home yesterday in a snowstorm, and all of a sudden, my right wiper blade snapped in half at the base and I couldn't use my wipers anymore, as the metal head would have scratched my windshield.  Driving in the snow without wipers is... an adventure.  But I hadn't replaced that wiper blade for years, as I don't look through that side of the windshield to drive.  I neglected it, and after a while, it broke and caused problems larger than expected!
  Conflict in the church isn't all that different.  We often neglect it for years, allow issues to fester.  We ignore it to the point that we forget about it, and all of a sudden it bursts out of nowhere, and issues we had ignored suddenly cause great stress and trouble in the body of Christ if we don't know how to deal well with it.
  Here in Galatians, Paul and a number of other Christian leaders get together to talk about how to deal with proclaiming Christ to the uncircumcised.  They're debating what kind of conditions should be added to church membership -- is belief in Christ enough, or is there more?  And it had been 14 years, so clearly this was a long time coming.
  What's wonderful is the way it was handled.  They came together and when they realized God was at work, they offered blessing to their fellow Christians and sent them out to serve.
  May we be as gracious when we disagree in the church.  May we look for how Christ is at work, remembering that there is often much about God's work that we don't understand, and may we offer blessing as others go out to serve.