Unity is incredibly powerful. God uses unity among followers of Christ to perform His will in the earth. Unity does not take place when everyone agrees on everything. Unity is produced when everyone focuses on ONE thing. A good example of unity from the Old Testament is the incident of the tower of Babel. This was a unique occurrence. At this point in history all the people on the earth spoke the same language. This helped! The people of Babel decided they wanted to build a tower that reached into the heavens in order to make a name for themselves. There were many people who more than likely disagreed on many things. But they ALL agreed on ONE thing...to make a name for themselves by building a tower out of bricks that reached into the heavens. Listen to what God says about the situation in Gen 11:6,
"The Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them." Even though it was not God's will for these people to accomplish this project He recognized the power of unity among them. Again they ALL were focused on ONE thing. God had to confuse their language (Babel) in order to stop the project. The reason God disapproved of the project (outside of the fact it was fueled by pride and rebellion) was because it was preventing the people from spreading out and populating the earth, which was His plan. The tower of Babel incident, as negative as it was, turned out to be a positive thing because it produced the many different nations of the world. But this incident is a very good example of how powerful unity is among people.
Unity among people who follow Christ is not achieved when everyone agrees on everything. That is uniformity. In other words when everyone has to dress alike, act alike, speak alike, look alike this is uniformity, NOT unity. In an effort to produce unity, many groups have created uniformity. On the other hand unity is when EVERYONE focuses on ONE THING. In the case of Christ-followers it is CHRIST!
Unity is produced among believers when we focus primarily on Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the only way, life, and truth. The Bible says we are all baptized into one body (church universal) by One Spirit. What is the opposite of unity? Disunity. Disunity occurs when believers focus on personal preferences over those of Jesus. The truth is we're all different. We all have different preferences. But they all must take a much lower priority than those of Jesus in our lives. We find many things we disagree on. But as we make Jesus the priority over EVERYTHING in our lives, we focus on the ONE thing that really matters! That's when unity occurs.
In the New Testament a group of Christ-followers were meeting for several days for the purpose of prayer. In prayer it is impossible not to focus on the One who really matters. The Bible says they were all in "one mind" meaning their focus was on Christ..not even their own needs. The result was that the Holy Spirit was poured out and the church was instituted. That's the same church you and I are a part of. Again, that's the power of unity. Let me encourage you to focus on the ONE thing that really matters...your relationship with Jesus. Seek Him for His heart. He will begin to reveal the personal things you've prioritized over Christ. When you find His heart, you are connected in a more relevant way to everyone else on the planet that also has found His heart!
Jesus said, If two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven." To agree means you must focus on the same thing. Unity is very powerful between just two people. Jesus uses only two as an example to illustrate the multiplied power of the church in unity. What do you think?
"The Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them." Even though it was not God's will for these people to accomplish this project He recognized the power of unity among them. Again they ALL were focused on ONE thing. God had to confuse their language (Babel) in order to stop the project. The reason God disapproved of the project (outside of the fact it was fueled by pride and rebellion) was because it was preventing the people from spreading out and populating the earth, which was His plan. The tower of Babel incident, as negative as it was, turned out to be a positive thing because it produced the many different nations of the world. But this incident is a very good example of how powerful unity is among people.
Unity among people who follow Christ is not achieved when everyone agrees on everything. That is uniformity. In other words when everyone has to dress alike, act alike, speak alike, look alike this is uniformity, NOT unity. In an effort to produce unity, many groups have created uniformity. On the other hand unity is when EVERYONE focuses on ONE THING. In the case of Christ-followers it is CHRIST!
Unity is produced among believers when we focus primarily on Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the only way, life, and truth. The Bible says we are all baptized into one body (church universal) by One Spirit. What is the opposite of unity? Disunity. Disunity occurs when believers focus on personal preferences over those of Jesus. The truth is we're all different. We all have different preferences. But they all must take a much lower priority than those of Jesus in our lives. We find many things we disagree on. But as we make Jesus the priority over EVERYTHING in our lives, we focus on the ONE thing that really matters! That's when unity occurs.
In the New Testament a group of Christ-followers were meeting for several days for the purpose of prayer. In prayer it is impossible not to focus on the One who really matters. The Bible says they were all in "one mind" meaning their focus was on Christ..not even their own needs. The result was that the Holy Spirit was poured out and the church was instituted. That's the same church you and I are a part of. Again, that's the power of unity. Let me encourage you to focus on the ONE thing that really matters...your relationship with Jesus. Seek Him for His heart. He will begin to reveal the personal things you've prioritized over Christ. When you find His heart, you are connected in a more relevant way to everyone else on the planet that also has found His heart!
Jesus said, If two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven." To agree means you must focus on the same thing. Unity is very powerful between just two people. Jesus uses only two as an example to illustrate the multiplied power of the church in unity. What do you think?
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