Pursuing Unity in a Divided World
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a lot of division in the world today. People are divided over religion, and religious practices. People are divided over politics, and political opinions. People are even divided over whether this dress is white and gold or black and blue.
Remember that from a few years back? When this picture first showed up on the internet, the internet was divided over what colors this dress was. How many of you see a gold and white dress? How many of you see a blue and black dress? Isn’t that weird?
But in truth, the dress really was black and blue, so there was a right answer. But because of the lighting conditions of the picture, many people perceived the colors differently.
Now, some of the things we divide over are silly, but some are warranted, because there really is a right and wrong. It’s evil to cry out, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. In other words, we shouldn’t pretend everything about today’s culture is okay, celebrating what’s immoral for the sake of peace, when there are real evils in the world.
Jesus said that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword. And sometimes that means our own families will be against us because of our faith in Christ. There’s division.
And yet, because Jesus came, the Bible promises that God tears down the walls of hostility so that we can have peace with one another, not only in eternity, but today, as we rest in Jesus.
"And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth" (Ephesians 1:10, NLT).
"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2:14, NIV).
Looking at the Issue from All Angles
In a video made for Our Daily Bread, Nicole Mullen shares the following devotional.*
You may have heard of the metaphor of looking at an issue from all angels. I think of it like this:
You know, if there were four of us and we were looking at an elephant, all from the front, our description of him would, or could, be similar. You know, though one might describe, you know, his trunk, another his tusks, somebody else his legs, someone else his eyes, but for the most part we would be describing the front of him and we could all attest to the others' narrative, because we have witnessed the same sight.
Now, if the four of us were to spread out and I stood behind him, you stayed in front, and the other two on the sides of him, then our descriptions would change according to what we've seen and experienced. We would be describing different parts of the same elephant.
Now, I have to be careful not to discredit my neighbor's description, because they had not seen the creature from my vantage point. But if i choose to lean in and learn from their experience, then my view of the elephant grows and so does my knowledge and my wisdom.
*Click here to link to the full video.
“When it comes to cultural diversity,” says, ODB.org, “we’re all going to have different experiences. In order to show the love of Christ we need to listen and respect each other, and do as Paul says in Ephesians 4:2–3”:
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (NIV).
ALTERNATIVE APPLICATION:
When introducing the Gospel message to the world, the Lord was careful to give us the same story from several different vantage points. Like the four witness Nicole spoke of, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all looking at the elephant — the Gospel account — from a different perspectives. It’s not until we look at the Gospel from all angles that we get the fullness of its message.
Don't Rock The Boat
"Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat."
[Jean-Paul Charles Sartre (1905–1980) was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and political activist. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature but declined the honor because he did not want to take sides in the cultural struggle between the East and the West.]
"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7).
God has distributed spiritual capacities to the individual members of the body of Christ so that as each one fulfills their purpose, the Church is edified. Unfortunately, the Corinthians suffered from gift envy. Rather than being content with the role God had equipped them to play, they lusted after the "greater gifts," the showy gifts, the up-front gifts.
By placing a premium on certain gifts, they had allowed their pride to divert their attention from the call of God. Instead of positively contributing to the common good, their actions resulted in disharmony and division. They had stopped rowing and started rocking.