Word of the Week: Unity

We all know a thing or two about division, don’t we? Republicans versus Democrats. Cat people versus dog people. Patriots fans versus…well, everybody else. Sadly, that isn’t new. Human beings have always found ways to divide up into teams and battle it out with each other. So, imagine how surprising Ephesians 2:13-15 must have sounded when someone first read it out loud. Against a backdrop of division, the Apostle Paul proclaimed unity.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.”

What we’ve divided, Christ has reconciled. What we’ve torn apart, he’s put back together. That’s a powerful message – as much now as it was then.

I feel like we got a glimpse of that power on Sunday night. We gathered with our brothers and sisters from around Greene County at the Greene County Ministerial Association’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Service. It was a beautiful display of diversity with a mighty message of unity. As Christians gather around our one Savior, Jesus Christ, all our divisions seem less important because the blood of Jesus that brings us together matters so much more. Christ has torn down the dividing wall and we refuse to build it back up ourselves.

I think that’s what heaven’s going to be like. Our differences won’t divide us. They’ll only serve to highlight how glorious our God is, who makes the many one. What a day that will be!