Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. Ephesians 1:3-10 [Emphasis added.]
At our devotional meetings, Aaron often evokes giggles as he christens the Apostle Paul the King of the Run On Sentence. While he didn’t necessarily run sentences together here, he linked a number of diverse thoughts with one intention in mind. Those thoughts ended at this word. He wanted to make sure that the Ephesians saw this as their bottom line: UNITY
I don’t know if you are like me, but I have lived and died with the Olympics the last two weeks. The United States tied China for the most gold medals, and won the total number of medals by a landslide. But there was something that grabbed me every time I heard the anthem and those four words — United States of America. Why did it grab me? Because our nation could not be farther away from living under the umbrella of that term. United? Not a chance.
In a nation that is so divided, God calls on us as Christians to demonstrate what unity looks like. It doesn’t look like this:
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
Paul was worried about unity then and would be worried about unity now. As Christians, we may often find ourselves in disagreement over doctrinal issues; they are superseded by what really matters: what ought to be our unifying cry. Which made me think of an anthem from my youth group days.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
[Yeah] they’ll know we are Christians by our love
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
[Yeah], they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
This is my first opportunity to be the Monday guy; the one who strikes a path for the week. This week we are all about unity, and that unity starts and ends with this one word: LOVE
by Bruce Hanson
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