When my grandfather was a young man, he joined the National Guard. While there, he, along with the others, was taught fancy drills with his rifle. Over and over they practiced until they were in perfect harmony. If even one person was out of step or put his rifle on the opposite shoulder, the whole effect was ruined. (He never forgot how to do those drills and when I was still a very little girl, taught me how to do them on the little toy rifle, that the man next door had made for me in his wood shop.)
Just so, our Great Creator longs for His followers to be united as were those drilling soldiers. We are commanded to strive for this unity. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Ps 134:1 We are soldiers in a battle—the battle between good and evil. Nothing is more important than being on the right side of this battle. Paul’s words to Timothy apply to us today. “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” 2 Tim 2:3-6
Our Loving Redeemer’s great prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John speaks of this unity that His followers are to have. “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine…. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are…. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
In this great prayer for unity, our Dear Saviour gives the key. Through the study of His Holy Word and through having the love that comes from the heart for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we become united into one body. This unity must be centered in the truths of the Scriptures yet never compromise one Biblical truth for the sake of unity, “He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 2 John 9-11 There cannot be compromise with false doctrine for “what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Cor 6:14-7:1
Yet, holding to the truth without having love for others will do us no good. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity (love), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing….And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Cor 13 He, Who left the glories of Heaven, He, Who counted all the adoration of all of the Heavenly Universe as nothing without our love and fellowship, He, Who gave His life to bring us back into harmony with all of His other created beings for all eternity yearns for us to have this same love, the love that only He can give, for those around us. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phil 2:5-8
May we have this great love for one another. May we ” walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [we] are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. May “we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” Eph 4:1-3,13 Amen.
Rose

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