Unity

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.

MORE CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED together than separately. There’s a synergy that happens when individuals join their skills, talents, and resources together, focused on a single purpose. Goals are accomplished.

But achieving unity and keeping it is no easy task: “Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people” (2 Timothy 2:23-24).

If God’s Word acknowledges the challenges of working together, we realize how much we have to depend on God to achieve the unity he calls us to. “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it” (James 4:1-2).

So what should we ask God for when we desire unity? According to James in the verses we just read, we should pray that we don’t give in to the natural desire to react badly if we don’t get what we want.

Then there are some key elements that create unity:

• Choosing a bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3)
• Choosing to love above everything else (Colossians 3:14)
• Choosing to keep Christ as the primary focus (Philippians 2:21)