Skip to main content

Unity


           With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 18b-10)

          The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16)

          But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

          Some folks dream of unity. That’s really the utopia of the song Imagine.[1] This is the siren call of some: everyone living in peace and at peace. The problem with this is that peace requires submission. You have to lay aside your agenda, or I have to lay aside mine, or we both have to lay aside ours and pick up another. That wouldn’t be a bad thing, if we could trust the leadership of the one whose agenda we pick up.
          The problem is, while some folks are pushing the idea that there is no “us and them,” today’s passages make it clear that there are at least “us” and “them.” God’s mysterious purpose revealed in Christ is unity under Christ. There are people who are calling for unity, but their unity does not involve Christ. Some of them make that “does not involve” an active restriction, it “must not involve Christ.”
          I struggle with the idea of unity. Too often, it seems to me, “unity” means “uniformity.” It means hive-mind. It means group-think. It means that I am required to give up being myself, and have another self imposed upon me. I have less if a problem when the one who gets to set the rules is God, who loves me and has shown me that He wants what is in my best interests. It’s  different when a Human, or a hive-mind of humans, insist that I give up myself and become part of their entity.
          If there were no difference between those who have unity under Christ and those who have or impose unity sans Christ, Scripture would not mention it. Why discuss a difference that doesn’t exist? Why promote a difference that isn’t important? But we are told to put off the world, and put on Christ. We are told to not be conformed to the world, but to be conformed to Christ. Any artificial “unity” that ignores this difference in kind is not of God.
         I’m not suggesting that we should hate “them” – whoever “they” are. We are commanded to love our enemies – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t our enemies. It’s possible for us to live with them peacefully, but we are to love the Lord our God with all our minds, souls, hearts, and strengths. We are only to love our neighbors as ourselves. The difference is important.
If you are in Christ, you are part of the unity that will be fulfilled at the right time. You have the mind of Christ. The Holy Spirit is at work in you. You can be kind to them, but you aren’t one of them – and trying to be – or worse, trying to force others to be – won’t change that.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more