A Spirit of Unity: The Strength of Peace

I have been spending some time thinking and praying about the unity of the believer in terms of how it relates in our relationships to the Lord and also in our relationships with each others as believers.  I was drawn to the passage in Mathew 22:36-40 in which Jesus addresses a man asking a very important question.  He asks:  36:"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37-40 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love you neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments."  Does it not follow then, that our adversary, the Devil, will seek to wage war against these two greatest commandments?    If all the law and prophets hang on these two commandments, and we are not diligently keeping them before us, our faith, will crumble.   We must remember who our fight is against:  "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12.  The Devil seeks to devour us, I Peter 5:8 states:  "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."  Satan wants to disrupt our relationship with our Father in Heaven, with others and with our fellow believer.  As a follower of Christ then, we must understand that if this is where the enemy attacks then we need to safe guard against the attacks by fully applying His word to our calling to love Christ and love others.

As individuals we are called to a place of personal relationship with the Lord, to be in daily pursuit of holiness.  The priority to develop a relationship with our Saviour is essential.  Not only to us but to those around us, believer and unbeliever.   To lean on that relationship with our Lord there are some disciplines we must take the time to practice; daily Bible reading & study, committing scripture to memory, and spending time in prayer.  When we stray from this first commandment it certainly affects the second to love others as well.   For those who do not believe in a personal relationship with Jesus, our own relationship with Him is our testimony.  For the body of believers, if each one of us is endeavoring to walk closely to the Lord it will only strengthen the unity within the body of believers.   And it's the unity of the Holy Spirit within the body of Christ that I have done much praying and thinking about in recent years.

I love the way Ephesians 4:3 states it: 'Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' : eager to!  A part of doing this is to encourage and lift one another up: "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord"  (Ephesians 5:19)  Our goal individually and collectively, then is to move closer to the author and finisher of our faith while cheering each other on! (Hebrews 12).  I confess it is difficult to do this at times because we tend to see 'people' rather then Christ.  Each one of us comes with our own life experiences and hurts, strengths and weaknesses, patterns of the way we react and respond to life.  We are a bunch of wounded people (wounded by sin) interacting with one another. However great blessing pours out among the body when we seek to follow God's wisdom regarding the first two commandments.   While walking with the Lord, we are to esteem each other better then ourselves and to walk with a heart of forgiveness, even as our Father in Heaven has also forgiven us (Philippians 2:3 & Colossians 3:13), forebearing with one another, while exercising the fruit of the Holy Spirit in full measure - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. (Galatians 5:22).  We also need to be observing the excellence of love.  I Corinthians 13:4-7  "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."  We must stir each other up to walk out our faith with passion and zeal, and to fight the good fight!  We need to encourage one another to seek after the Lord for truth and we must recognize that as individuals we are each a functioning member of the body, all with gifts the Lord has graciously given us.  Romans 12:1-21 is a well spring of the first two commandments.  If you take the time to read it, it gives a birds eye view into both the commandments Jesus speaks of in Matthew.

Having said all this, it sounds great, but practicing it can be very complex at times.  Sometimes, it is exceedingly difficult to know what to do, what to say, how to respond and act.  I have to say though, that I am very blessed to walk along some amazing people whose hearts desire it is to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and mind.  That doesn't mean me or they are perfect, what it does mean is that through the desire to love the Lord (first commandment) we have unity in the Holy Spirit.  I have been the recipient of strong encouragement to move forward in my relationship with Christ.  Even, at times, been lovingly confronted with the sin in my life, with the motivation that they want to see me grow in my walk with the Lord.  That is as it should be.  If we are to cheer each other on, to lift each other up, let us encourage each other to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. to pray for one another, (Ephesians 6:18: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."), confess our sins to one another (James 5:16 "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.") and passionately cheer each other on! (Hebrews 12).  Let us appreciate one another and the gifts the Holy Spirit has given each one of us in the body of Christ.  Let us function with a spirit of unity through a strong bond of peace, being on the alert to safe guard our relationship with the Lord as well as our relationship(s) with our fellow believer.   This will only strengthen our testimony and light to the world.