13 Nov Building Unity Through Peace
Fusion is a state of joining two or more things together as one. It’s what happens when we take things with distinctly different material and combine them to create something beautiful. For instance, when we combine two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, we get something that we all treasure very much– H2O, or water.
In the same way, God has beautiful things waiting for us—the beautiful things we often pray for, such as a loving family, a good relationship with our spouse, a good environment with co-workers. But these things don’t come just because we pray; they come as we learn to live in unity with each other.
The fact is that the unity that God calls us to live in often requires us to do things that we don’t naturally want to do.
I have a friend whose marriage demonstrated this well. I can’t even count the times that he and I shared a laugh over a good steak or a cheeseburger. But when he married his wife, who is a doctor, my requests for a trip to the nearest burger joint were consistently denied.
After a few times, I began to wonder what was up. One day, my question was answer when he called, sounding discouraged.
“Jim, I don’t know if I can make it!” he said.
“What’s wrong, bro?” I asked.
“She won’t let me have any meat!” he exclaimed.
Now, I respect those who have made the decision to forgo meat, but this is something that I just couldn’t do for a long period of time. And apparently, neither could my friend!
He said, “Man, when God said it was time to celebrate, he said kill the fatted calf, right? I mean, he didn’t say put more nuts on your salad!”
We laughed, but I could tell my friend was serious about fixing this issue with his new wife. I encouraged him to focus on living in unity with her instead of preferring his own way over her way. They both worked together, and today, 29 years later, they have a great marriage! He is healthier than ever, and she has learned that sometimes a piece of cake can be a good thing!
That’s the kind of unity God wants to bring into all of our homes, workplaces, and friendships. It’s one where we worry more about people than about our own preferences. It’s one where we learn to accept, support and nurture our loved ones instead of airing our own opinions or condemning them.
Paul encourages us in Ephesians 4:3 to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
Becoming people of peace creates the bond our hearts are hoping for. So will you do what it takes to live in unity with those you love? I hope so, because doing so will truly create the life you are longing for!