In the short time that my husband and I have been pioneering a church in Chicago, I have realized that without unity a church is powerless. Without unity a marriage will shatter. Pride, self-centeredness, selfishness, sin, anger, and bitterness are all things that will bring about this in-house conflict.
Our lives, our marriages, and our churches are all supposed to reflect the oneness in our relationship with Christ. Instead, with divorce rates just as high as non-believers and church splits happening all the time, we are failing to be that light by not loving one another. In John 17:20-26, Jesus prays for the unity of all believers. He prays for unity for a specific reason,
“that the world may believe that you sent Me”.
He is saying that the world will look at our lives. They will look! What will they see? What they see will determine what they believe!
Psalm 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Unity brings strength. Even with non-Christians this is true. God looked down on the tower of Babel and said, “Indeed the people are one and they have one language, now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them” (Gen 11:6). There is nothing impossible for people who are working together in unity. With unity the church can win the world.
In the Bible, when God wanted to destroy the enemy, He sent division among them and caused them to fight themselves. Jesus said in Luke 11:17,
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation,
and a house divided against a house falls.”
The best of plans can be destroyed if we lack unity. Satan knows this and does everything he can to cause division among believers. Our focus turns off of God and onto each other’s weak points.
Personally, it is difficult for me, as a pastor’s wife, to hear some of the negative stuff people say about my husband. Over the years we have heard it all! They don’t like the way he sings, they don’t like the way he teaches, they don’t like the way offering is taken up, they don’t like when he outreaches, they don’t like how he outreaches. Why don’t they just say straight up that they don’t like him! Oh and I love this, when they add at the end, “Don’t take it personal”. Excuse me? But you just fired a personal assault on him!
Granted, being “one” does not mean we will have the same thoughts or ideas on everything. That’s ok! Division comes in when you take your eyes off of God and the purpose of the church. You let those differences take root in your heart thinking your way is better. Pride causes division!
Indeed we are one body made up of many parts. The problem is when we don’t know what body part we are. Stop trying to be the hand when you are the foot. If you don’t like the way the pastor does things, stop trying to be the pastor! That is not your role in the body. If you’re a knee be a knee! The same goes within your marriages, if you are not the husband stop wearing the pants! These things cause disunity.
Unity comes from within; it is a matter of the heart.
The Lord has been showing me even in my heart where there is disunity. When people are constantly negative it gets discouraging and I tend to get defensive. It’s a sign of pride in my own life. I don’t want other people’s actions to cause me to sin. I don’t want to be a bitter person! Just because someone is critical, I don’t want to be critical back, and I have been. I thank Jesus that He is truly the ultimate example of love and unity and forgiveness. Let us look deep within our own hearts if we have been a source of disunity in the Church or in our marriages. Let us forgive and let us love so that the world can look upon us and know that Jesus is Lord!
