Most of Aesop’s fables ring as true today as they did when he wrote them—600 years before Christ.

How can these short stories speak to us more than 2,000 years after he wrote them?

It is because though times change, the essence of what makes us “human” does not. We have the same fears, desires, and hopes as those who lived throughout the centuries.

We simply are not all that unique.

And, that is why the Bible continues to instruct us today. People are people. And, we are pretty predictable.

A good example of Aesop’s fables being relevant today is the story of the Seven Sticks.

Paraphrased, it goes like this:  A father was on his deathbed, and he wanted to demonstrate to his sons that there is unity in strength—that if they stayed together, they would be strong.

He gave his oldest son a bundle of seven sticks. He told him to break the bundle—but he couldn’t. He gave each of his sons the same challenge—and not one could break the bundle of sticks.

Then, he opened the bundle and gave each of his sons one stick from the bundle and asked him to break it. They each broke their individual stick with great ease.

The lesson was learned. If you stick together, the force from the outside can not break you. Allow outside forces to divide you, and you will be easily broken.

This is true of families.

It is true of friends.

It is true of workplaces.

It is true of nations.

And, it is true of Christians.

So often we try to break other Christians when we should strengthen our brothers and sisters in the faith. We should stand with them when the world threatens their faith so that they will not break.

We don’t have to agree with every aspect of their lives. We should not expect perfection from anyone other than Christ.

If someone professes that Jesus in the Way, Truth, and Life—that He and He alone died for their sins and took their sins to the grave and stands before God in their place, that person is a brother or sister in Christ. Period.

We stand with such persons to strengthen them. We bear their burdens. If they sin, we don’t support them IN their sins—we support them THROUGH their sins. We strengthen them and they strengthen us.

And, bundled with them in this way, we cannot be broken either.

Stand together in Christ. Stand strong.