Unity is a very important concept everywhere. Countries talk about it, teams talk about it, and the bible talks about it. Unity is defined as “the state of being joined as a whole”. In Ephesians 4, Paul encourages the body of Christ to be unified. He says in verse one, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” Here Paul is strongly recommending that we do daily (not occasionally) life in a manner worthy of our calling. What is this calling? It’s the invitation to live in a loving relationship with God and other believers. In verse two Paul tells us how we’re supposed to do this: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” He makes it crystal clear that believers are to be unified.
Since unity is talked about so much in the bible, then it must be really important, not just in our churches, but in our youth groups and definitely on the mission field. But to be unified, we have to put the work into it. Unity is a very hard thing to achieve. In our “me” culture today, it’s easy to become divisive, which is the complete opposite of unity. When things don’t go our way or friends disappoint us, we get angry, bossy, intolerant and peace/unity become a low priority. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:7, “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” When we have division, we often harbor terrible feelings against one another, either because of something we did to each other or someone we can’t agree with. Verse seven is saying that God gave us grace. Wait a minute though, He gave us grace? We’re the same people who reject Him daily with our actions and thoughts, Daily! God, our Father, still gives us grace. If our God can do this daily, then we should be able to forgive others and stay in union with our fellow believers. We must.
On the Race next year, there will be times when my team won’t agree or we’ll get on each other’s nerves, so we’ll need to remember this passage. God gave us grace, therefore we’re supposed to extend grace to others, putting up with one another. I know for a fact that I struggle with forgiving others for things here in Longview, and I can just walk away and leave the situation here, but on the World Race, I won’t be able to leave and get away. To be honest, I often deal with others by basically running away. I need to handle my problems head-on while remembering God gave us grace. This concept of unity is so important right now. So I am asking y’all to pray for me and also for my World Race team to experience unity. If we ever want to make a difference for God, we must become united.
Thanks for reading my post! Feel free to leave a comment below and subscribe to my blog if you’d like to follow my journey. I’ll talk to you soon.
In Christ,
Dalton
