Readings for today: 1 Kings 14:1-15:24, Acts 10:1-23, Psalms 133, Proverbs 17:7-8
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity!...For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” (Psalms 133:1, 3)
Psalm 133 is my favorite Psalm. Mainly because I have seen it in action. I have seen what happens when God’s people truly serve Him with one heart and mind. I have witnessed the miracles that take place when God’s people put aside their egos, their needs, their wants, their desires in favor of serving the Kingdom. I have watched God’s Spirit move when God’s people humble themselves. Deny themselves. Pursue forgiveness and reconciliation. Lay aside their need to be safe, both physically and emotionally. It is powerful. Life-changing. It transforms villages. Towns. Cities. Entire tribes, regions, and nations.
True biblical unity requires us to relinquish “self” in favor of others. It requires us to lose our individual identity in favor of the whole. (Job 38:7) It requires us to consider others more important than ourselves. (Phil. 2:3) It requires us to risk. Risk being hurt. Risk being wounded. Risk feeling rejected. It requires us to have courage. Courage to forgive. Courage to pursue reconciliation. No matter what the cost. No matter how many times we get burned. “Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22) It requires honesty. Transparency. Self-reflection. We must constantly seek to take the log out of our own eyes before we look to take the speck out of our brother’s or sister’s eye. We have to acknowledge we are both victim and perpetrator in all our relationships.
True biblical unity requires the church to lay aside it’s need to compete. Extend it’s brand. Criticize other parts of the Body as if “we have no need of them.” (1 Cor. 12:21) It requires leadership to get serious about working together. Working with and for one another. Willing to sacrifice our buildings, budgets, and attendance in order to expand God’s Kingdom in the communities where we serve. It requires mutual submission and accountability. A willingness to step aside and relinquish our platforms when we fall into sin. It requires a radical commitment to love God and neighbor at the expense of our organizations and institutions. Self-denial and picking up our cross is not just a call to the individual Christian but to the church as a community as well!
True biblical unity requires a radical re-orientation of the heart. It is incredibly difficult and challenging which is why it happens so infrequently in Scripture. The unity David experiences as he builds his kingdom will soon give way to division as his own children betray him. We have to constantly be on guard because we are our own worst enemy. Our hearts naturally resist unity because it requires literal death to self. And we have such a strong instinct for self-preservation.
Ultimately, unity is not something we can achieve through our own strength. It must be a movement of God’s Spirit. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:13) Have you drunk of the one Spirit? Have you tasted the goodness and glory of God? Are you walking with the Spirit? Keeping in step with Him in all your ways? Unity comes as we relinquish more and more of our lives to the Spirit’s control. Both as individuals and as churches gathered in His name.
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Kings 15:25-17:24, Acts 10: 24-48, Psalms 134, Proverbs 17:9-11