"An Unbreakable Unity!"

How do we, or any church for that matter, go from having a unity that can be easily broken to an unbreakable unity? This is an important question for me as your brother in Christ, and one that I have been praying about for us and the churches of Henry County.

There are many answers that can be proposed, but I keep coming back to this one thought: as long as our unity is based on how we feel about one another, then it will remain fragile. The foundation of our unity needs to change from our feelings about us, to our faith in the one God who has called us together to be His body with Jesus Christ as the head! The unity of a church, to be a unity that stands the test of time, cannot be based on success measurements, spreadsheets, personnel qualification, pastoral satisfaction, or any other manmade measurement. It's not enough to be happy with the pastor, to feel good about the numbers (attendance or finances), or even to have visible success in areas of focus. Unity that is based on how we feel about things will always be tossed here and there by the circumstances of the moment. We need a unity built upon the Rock!

Our unity will only be unbreakable if it is grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ with Him as Lord and us in our rightful place at the foot of the cross. We are each sinners, saved by grace, who fall short of the glory of God. We are each people who only have life because of the gift of God, given to us even while were still sinners. In fact, each of us was once dead in our sins! We each are new in Christ and have one common mission: to go out as ministers of reconciliation. This means we are to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a darkening world one person at a time, through word and deed. It is only be the mercy of God that we are here together, and for His purposes and His glory! Not ours!

God has given us such great mercy so that we can be the body of Christ who has a laser-focus mission. And that mission is not based on our feelings! It is a mandate that requires our unity to be rock-solid and that is only possible if we ask God to give us an unbreakable unity. For our unity to grow stronger, our faith must grow stronger! This is a matter of prayer and fasting!

In Luke 18:13, Jesus taught us this humble prayer, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Maybe this is the answer to all the issues that divide churches. Is a six-word prayer too easy of an answer to a problem that has plagued the church for two millennia? Doesn't it require us to do more work, to think a little harder? Well, cleverness and novelty have only lead to disunity upon disunity, so let's stay focused on the Cross! This is an ancient truth that must be remembered in the heat of our feelings!

It might not be fancy or long-winded, but the answer is found in the right heart-attitude of a man and woman who dares to pray this justifying prayer. Let us join together as individuals and as a community of Christ-followers to pray this prayer every day. We each are in the same dilemma (sinners), we each have the same need (mercy), and we each have the same Savior (God). Through a life of humility and prayer, may our lives be built upon the solid-foundation of Jesus Christ, the humility of His death upon the cross, and the power of His resurrection. Then our unity will be an unbreakable one. All else is fragile and can be broken!

Please join me in praying this prayer every day, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Thank you Jesus for what you have done, are doing, and will do in and through us!