Let's Get Together

If you were to read publications from a century ago, you would find raging debates over:

· The woman’s right to vote
· Playing cards
· Going to the moving picture show
· Reading secular literature and poetry
· Taking part in team sports
· Doing any work on a Sunday
· Partaking in the Lord’s supper from one cup or individual cups

Now, we might shake our heads and ask, “What were they thinking?”—but some of the things Christians divide over today are every bit as trivial. There are a thousand things that have the potential to tear Christ’s body apart if we let them.

If we let them.

One of the definitive passages on unity is Romans chapter 14:

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (vv 1-4).

It is clear that we cannot afford to let differences of opinion create wedges between us. So what can the average Christian do to prevent division? Paul gives this prescription in Ephesians chapter 4:

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (vv 2-6).

There’s a lot of wisdom in the maxim, “In essentials unity, in non-essential liberty, in everything charity.” When it comes to the clearly revealed principles and directives of the New Testament, Christians should all be united. When it comes to matters of opinion (not illuminated by Scriptural command or principle) we must respect the freedom of the individual to follow his conscience. And in everything we must conduct ourselves with love.

·This week, ask God to show you what you can do promote unity among your brothers and sisters in Christ.

-William Sherman-

Prayer Focus

One of the most powerful Biblical passages on unity is also a prayer. In John 17, Jesus prayed, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (vv 20-23).

How effective would our prayers be if we followed Christ’s example and prayed as he did?