LIFESTYLE: UNITY

Psalm 133:1

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

It is indeed possible to dwell together and not dwell in unity.

Unity is a spiritual thing and a condition of the heart.

Gen 11. 1,6

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech....And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. ...this people is one.

The idea of unity is spiritual unity.

Like Edwin Louis Cole would say, agreement is the place of power. If two of you shall agree as touching any matter, it is agreed in heaven. Agreement isn't holding hands. Agreement is a spiritual heart-attitude.

It is the disposition of the heart.

There are certain pillars that support unity in the body.

1. Covenant
2. Communion
3. Prayer

Covenant:

We are related to our natural family by natural blood but we are related to the brethren by the shared blood of christ.

2corinthian 5:16-17 when quoted in context relates to how we deal with one another.

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

So we deal with each other from this point of view. The entire 5th chapter of 2corinthians talks about us rightly discerning the body especially with regards to the covenant.

The Communion

Because we understand the covenant, we celebrate it in the breaking of bread. Symbolic of our being part of one and the same body and so, if anyone is pained, we should all be pained.

If anyone falls, all partake of the experience. We can act detached but we are not. We are bound by covenant and when we celebrate the Lords table we acknowledge this everytime.

This brings me to prayer. Prayer, the lord once told me is congenial and families must be built on it.

You are bound to the one you pray with, the one you pray for and the one you pray to.

Prayer binds.

I like the way scripture puts it in 1st John, "Confess your faults one to another, then pray one for another".

You can only pray meaningfully for those you know. When you build friendship and fellowship, intercession becomes a natural consequence.

You cannot force. Like John said, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another but our fellowship is really with the father.

As we all strive to walk with the Lord, our ability to walk together becomes a lot more natural.

As we increase in christian maturity, our chords of love and christian unity is greatly enhanced. When this is absent, it means we are lacking in true christian maturity. God Bless