Unityნიმუში

A state of the heart

It seems most if not all followers of Jesus long for unity amongst fellow believers. But the concept of unity is often misunderstood.

Unity is not some human creation. It comes as God gives His Spirit to those who embrace Him in faith. We don’t manufacture it by organising or reorganising groups or churches; we don’t get it by having committee meetings. Our task is not to create unity but to maintain the unity we already have.

The text today speaks of things like humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance. It is these heart attitudes that maintain unity. We might think joining up with all other local churches will promote unity. It probably won’t. Similarly with merging our different congregations. If our hearts are not in it, if those heart attitudes described are not present, then it is all a façade.

To experience unity, we don’t have to all agree with one another on everything. We just need to focus on our central beliefs and cultivate those qualities of humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance. Unity springs from the Spirit and is sustained by practising the fruit of that Spirit.

Written by DAVID REAY