“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!… For there the Lord bestows his blessing.” God’s plan is not simply for the individual salvation of people. God does indeed want to reconcile people to himself, one by one. That is why Christ suffered and died. Christ did this, however, not just so we might have individual relationships with him. God wants to create a united human family. That is the pinnacle of his agenda. Much of the Old Testament law pertains to creating a united covenant community. When Jesus prayed for the church of the future, the thing he focused on was unity (John 17:20ff): “That all of them may be one.” Then, the key fruit of the Spirit that Luke focuses on, in narrating the effects of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, is unity: “All the believers were together and had everything in common” (Acts 2:44); “All the believers were one in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32). When Paul writes to the fledgling Christian churches he implores them again and again to be united, as he says in 1 Corinthians 1:10: “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.” When God’s people unite, as the psalm says, “there the Lord bestows his blessing”. Unity is more important than individual preference. Unity is more important than you getting your way. Make unity your priority.
Pray for the unity and blessing of your church.
Read Psalm 133.
