Unity in a Divided World

By:  Dale Weckbacher

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

(ESV)

As a new President is set to take office this Friday, many in the nation are experiencing renewed optimism that new leadership will put the nation on the path of returning to the greatness it once had.  When Barak Obama took office in 2009, many also had optimism that the election of the nation’s first African American President would finally end the racial divide in the nation.  Unfortunately, eight years later the nation seems to be even more divided than it was when Obama took office. 

Instead of a legacy of mending racial tensions in the United States, President Obama leaves office with a legacy of widening the divide and pitting African Americans against law enforcement climaxing with the assassination of five Dallas police officers.  (1) (2)  Instead of going down in history as the President that brought racial unity to a divided nation, this legacy represents a missed opportunity at racial unity.  We can only hope and pray that the Trump Administration will be able to restore civility to the nation.

Disunity and division is a tool that the Devil has used since he approached Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Satan used words of deception causing Adam and Eve to doubt God, believing God was withholding his best from them.  This deception caused Adam and Eve to disobey God, resulting in their eviction from the Garden and separation from God (Genesis 3).  This separation was so great that it meant all the descendants of Adam and Eve were sentenced to die in their sins (Romans 6:23).  Thankfully because of the grace of God, a way was made for unity with God through the shed blood of God’s only Son Jesus Christ.  This is the unity of the Spirit Paul is speaking of in Ephesians 4:3. 

While we hope the new President will be able to restore unity in our nation, the truth of the matter is that the only way for lasting unity is unity under the Holy Spirit.  For this reason, my hope for the new President is the restoration of civility so the senseless killing of innocent people and law enforcement officers can end but not a hope he can cause unity for only God can accomplish that.  As followers of Jesus Christ, this places a great responsibility on us for we must,

1)      Pray (James 5:16) – Prayer is a powerful tool for it unleashes the power of Almighty God.  Pray for our President and that he, with the help of God, can restore civility to the nation.  Pray for God to bring a heart transforming revival to our nation, unifying men and women under the Holy Spirit. 

2)      Be prepared to share the Gospel (Mark 16:15) – This command to share the gospel was not just to pastors, it was to all of us.  When a person accepts Jesus as their Savior, the Holy Spirit enters their heart and the transformational work that will cause unity begins.  Jesus said he was the way the truth and the life (John 14:6).  Jesus is the key that opens the hearts of men allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and begin the heart transforming work that will cause unity.

3)      Practice unity in our churches (John 13:35) – What we do speaks much louder than what we say.  When the world sees disunity and division within the Body of Christ, they see nothing different than the divisiveness they see all around them.  However, unity is not something we can do on our own but something that requires the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Our churches are a conglomeration of people of diverse races, nationalities, educational backgrounds, and ages.  In other words, our churches are a collection of diverse individuals but with this diversity comes the potential for disunity and divisiveness.  Satan has not changed his tactics and stands ready to bring deception leading to disunity in this diverse collection of individuals and it is only as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts that we can maintain unity.  We therefore must pray that the Spirit of God will fill our churches with a Spirit of Unity so we can effectively demonstrate unity to a divided world. 

In conjunction with new leadership in the United States promising the restoration of civility, we as the Body of Christ must unify through the Holy Spirit to bring unity to our divided world.  I encourage the body of Christ to make 2017 the year in which we restore unity to our churches and unify to bring the Gospel to a lost and dying world.  Will you join me in this mission?

1. Khachatrain, Harry. A Complete Timeline of Race Relations Under Obama. www.dailywire.com. [Online] The Daily Wire, January 9, 2017. [Cited: January 11, 2017.] http://www.dailywire.com/news/12230/complete-timeline-race-relations-under-obama-harry-khachatrian.

2. Manny Fernandez, Richard Perez-Pena and Jonah Engel Bromwich. Five Dallas Officers Were Killed as Payback, Police Chief Says. www.nytimes.com. [Online] The New York Times, July 8, 2016. [Cited: January 11, 2017.] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/us/dallas-police-shooting.html?_r=0.