Unity

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:14-20

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

Devotion

In our nation so divided over matters of politics the Spirit spoke to my spirit to appeal to unity. In the Bible unity is seen as a necessary condition for humanity and the church. Consider Jesus words from the gospel of Mark “²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” We are in grave danger of being a house that fails as a nation because of the acrimony that pervades our public discourse. We need each other with our various viewpoints in order to function as a society. Yet we too often demean our opponents. Treating them as less than human in our debates. We gather into like minded cliques on social media and listen to only those voices that agree with our viewpoints.

Hatred toward the other and malicious intent by the other is assumed to be the case. We lack charity and love toward our enemy. Instead of following Jesus advice to pray for our enemies we attack each other mercilessly. We call each other vile names and attack character whenever we can.

We should rather seek to understand the other party and act with good will towards them. If we don’t, I fear this country will rip apart at the seams. (If it has not already done so.) And we will find our nation and indeed our world in tatters and we will have no one to blame but ourselves. Let us learn how to be kind to one another again. Let us be charitable in our dealings with other.

Prayer:

Let us pray now with Jesus as he prays for his followers in the gospel of John.

²⁰ “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”