I heard about a pair of deacons from the same church who lived next door to each other. A five-foot high privacy fence divided their backyards. Deacon 1 had a huge maple tree near the fence, and when the leaves fell, many of them fell into Deacon 2’s yard. Every fall these two men battled over the leaves. Deacon 2 thought Deacon 1 should deal with the leaves since they fell from his tree; Deacon 1 thought since they weren’t in his yard, they weren’t his problem. Shouting matches sometimes erupted from opposite sides of the fence. One summer, a new neighbor moved in across the alley. In mid-November, the deacons’ church hosted a dinner, and one of the deacons invited the new neighbor to attend. The man told him, “I’m not interested. I’ve seen how you treat each other. I don’t want to be part of that.”

The worst witness we can be for Christianity is letting petty quarrels divide brothers and sisters in Christ. If either one of those deacons had simply honored the other—Deacon 1 going over and raking the leaves that fell on the other side of the fence, or Deacon 2 taking care of the leaves without complaint—the feud would have been over in a heartbeat. The world watches Christians (as well it should!) and the example we set speaks volumes. “Outdo one another in showing honor.” The world will know Christ makes a difference if we obey that direction.