THOUGHTS ABOUT UNITY
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! - Psalm 133:1Sometimes I think we miss the good and pleasant experience of living in unity because we think we can’t have it unless we get everyone else to see things our way. Unity comes about when we learn to live with each other despite our differences, not when we convert everyone to our point of view. Those who argue for total and complete agreement as a prerequisite for unity, love the illustration of the two cats. If you tie two cats’ tails together, you have union, but not unity. When I hear that illustration, I have a mental picture of two cats scratching, clawing, hissing and screeching. They’re right. The union of the two exacerbates their division. Unity can never be achieved by proclamation, announcement, declaration, or corporate merger. We can’t get there by pretending the tensions don’t exist. But neither is unity achieved be persuading other to see everything alike.
Real unity is achieved when we learn to respect each other, love each other, treat one another fairly, and support each other in time of need despite our disagreements. Some of my dearest friends and family members stubbornly refuse to see things the same way I do, but they would lay down their lives for me if necessary. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). If my life is on the line, I do not require the person who lays down his life for me to agree with all my opinions, interpretations, biases, and ideas. If laying down your life for a friend doesn’t unify you with that person, then it’s a pretty decent substitute.
posted by Norman @ 7:49 AM
5 Comments:
Attempt #2:
Thank you Norman. Your sage wisdom always blesses me.
"Respect" is a good word--the right word for this conversation. Unfortunately, we've evidenced too little of that precious quality too often. It will provide a much stronger force for unity than agreement ever will.
Thanks for sharing
John Wright
Excellent thoughts and right on target. Thanks
One thing I love about the church in Corinth was, in spite of their disunity, they at least knew about each other's problems. They knew each other well enough to know what their other brothers and sisters believed to even divide over it. Today we normally don't have a clue what other people at church believe and when we do find out, want to divide over even piddly things. I am sure sometimes God is just shaking his head. I don't say all that to be negative because we certainly do have our victories as well.
I appreciate the thoughts on unity. We need to take Jesus' prayer seriously. More seriously than our opinions and likes.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
thanks,
God bless you!
Dhoms from Philippines
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