[By Jeff Walsh]
God, by nature, is unity. He is three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in one. We see this in the words Jesus prayed in John 17, “Just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.” This is another way of saying that the Son and Father are one.
When we, as God’s people, live in unity with each other, we reflect God’s character to the world. We honor and glorify God’s name because we demonstrate by example who he is.
Jesus makes this unity possible. Through our faith in him, we are united with God, and as we are united with God, he unites us with each other.
Our enemy, the devil, always seeks to destroy God’s work and God’s people. Sowing seeds of disunity is one of his most effective methods. But Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Through Jesus, there is victory over the devil’s schemes.
In our union with Christ and the Holy Spirit’s power, we are to display humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance in love, and eagerness for unity.
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (Romans 14:19)
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 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. (Ephesians 4:1-3)
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8)
Prayer
- Praise God for his perfectly unified character.
- Thank him for sending the Son to bring about our unity with him and each other.
- Confess if you have held a grudge against anyone, holding on to a wrong done to you, a misunderstanding, a determination to prove that you are right, or a prideful, “me-first” attitude.
- Ask God to open our eyes to see our brothers and sisters as he sees them.
- Ask him to give us hearts of humility toward one another.
- Ask him to give us hearts of gentleness toward one another.
- Ask him to give us hearts of patience toward one another.
- Ask him to help us bear with our brothers and sisters who do not see things the way we do.
- Ask him to fill us with sympathy and love for each other.
- Ask him to give us humility in our thinking and reasoning about things.
- Pray against the schemes of the devil, who would use our differing views to create disunity.
- Ask him to help us place allegiance to Jesus and the church over every other allegiance.
