A number of years ago I splurged and bought a pair of prescription sun glasses that had
Polaroid lenses. They were best sun glasses I ever had, because they were great at reducing
glare; they were especially good for driving or boating. They do have a drawback; they can
make it hard to read the display on a smartphone. Of course, this wasn’t a problem for me in
those prehistoric times. I want to spend a little time explaining how Polaroid lenses work.
Light can be thought of as being propagated in waves. Mathematically each wave can
be resolved into vertical and horizontal components with the original wave being the (vector)
sum of the two components. When we wear Polaroid glasses, they filter out the horizontal
component. Glare comes in lots of random directions, and by only allowing the vertical
component to pass through, much of it is reduced. If we were to turn our glasses 90 degrees,
then only the horizontal component would pass through. This results in an interesting effect. If
we were to place one Polaroid lens in front of another but turned by 90 degrees, then both
components would be filtered out. That is, no light would pass through! I have done this, and
it does work.
Sometimes there are serious conflicts between Christians. It can happen between
individuals, within congregations, within a denomination, or even between denominations.
Paul wrote to several churches helping them resolve conflicts, and even talked about his
conflict with Peter (see Galatians 2:11-21). It’s as if Christians are sometimes at right angles to
each other. What happens? I’m sure you’ve guessed. As with Polaroid lenses, it prevents any
of His Light from shining through! See how Paul’s words still speak to us today by reading 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, and remember God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim