December 5, 2017
Weekly Reflection – The Truth About Unity
The truth about unity.
Chris Tomlin is a famous contemporary composer of Christian hymns. It seems he is also a gifted writer as evidenced by this week’s guest Reflection on “The Truth About Unity in the Church”. I’m not sure I would buy every last word he has written but he certainly gets down to some basic truth. The following has been widely distributed on social media such as Facebook.
The most persuasive statement Christians can collectively make about the love and truth of Jesus is through our unity. So crucial is unity to Jesus Himself that it was the focus of His prayer just prior to entering the Garden of Gethsemane (John 17:20-26), the night before He was tried, beaten and crucified. This should be evidence enough that unity is in the heart of God.
True unity is rooted in humility. It can only happen when we place ourselves in a posture of “others first.” In a world that continues to be more and more me driven and focused on the conviction, I have to get mine, a humble heart that sees we as greater than me is incredibly powerful. This is the opposite of the flow of the world. This is the kingdom of God.
Jesus said that the world would know we are His by our love (John 13:36). Interestingly, He did not say “by our doctrine” or “by our denomination,” but by our love. The heart of unity can see the bigger picture and say to our fellow Christians, “Although we may not agree with one another on every little thing, I love you and will walk alongside you, because we are each sons and daughters of God.” There is great power in unity. Conversely, there is a debilitating weakness in division. Just as Scripture teaches us, we are all part of one body, and Jesus is the head. God wired each of us uniquely with different gifts, and when our gifts are brought together under the banner of one great name, Jesus, the world is changed.
For me, it’s the same with music. Play just a single note by itself, and it is not all that exciting. Actually, it gets annoying pretty quickly! But when different notes begin to play together in harmony and in tune, chords begin to form, and beautiful songs arise. Notice I said, “in tune.”
May we begin to see the church as a symphony, and God as the great Maestro. Let’s play the notes He’s given us to play. Let’s play in tune together. And may the world hear the music – the music of His grace and mercy for all.
Blessings and peace,
Chaplain Allen
chaplain@nationsu.edu
www.chaplainscorner.org
Read more reflections, Diversity