Unity

Unity. 
This word has been convicting me this month. There is SO much dividing us, pulling us away from each other, away from our mission, away from God. What would life look like if we shifted focus from fighting for our beliefs and rights and focused on fighting FOR those God has placed in our kingdom? I'm not saying to become a door mat or give up our beliefs (believe me, enneagram 8 here... I like to fight for what I believe in), but I am saying that we can stop defining those around us by the labels we have given them and simply seek to understand their heart. 

Ask questions, listen, and see each person through the lens of knowing that just like you, they have a life and stories that have shaped how they see the world. Often those stories hold pain, fear, and hurt. Doesn't yours? I know mine does. If THIS is how Christians responded in conflicting situations, seeking to UNDERSTAND first and be RIGHT later, I don't think the world would know what to do. 

Philippians 2:3-5 says it beautifully 3 Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 

THIS is the Jesus we follow. The one who is radically counter cultural. The one who radically fights for unity, love, and the individual hearts that he sees. 

Here are a couple questions I've been asking myself in some heated situations: 

1. Why does this make me so angry? I can easily throw justice in as an excuse; while that is often true, the anger typically comes from a deeper wound within myself. 

2. Why does this make THEM so angry? Maybe I actually stop and try to ask questions that get to the heart of their emotion. 

3. If Jesus was me, how would he respond right now? I'm not Jesus, but if I stop and ask him how to respond, he shows up and the result is often more compassion than I could have on my own. 


This could be a step back towards each other, our mission as Christians, and God. Back to unity. If that isn't the dangerous middle, I don't know what is. 

 Who is with me?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Harry Potter

You have all at least heard of the Harry Potter books.... if not......... I'll give you a little of the story line...... Harry Potter was just a baby when the most powerful wizard killed his mom and dad and tried to kill him, but for some reason the little baby got away with only a scar on his forehead. Now this was unheard of, if this guy wanted you dead then you would be dead. Through out all the books he is questioning why did this have to happen? Why me? Why can't I just be normal and have my parents? In the long run he ends up saving his school, his friends, his teachers, and in a few ways he saves the world. It was all because of what happened when he was little.... if he was normal, if he did have his parents, if he didn't have amazing and unusual talents because of the scar (kinda), he would not have been able to stand up and save him self and all these people. So why the heck did I just say all that? Because I often ask God why? why me? Why can't I just be lik...
Read more

David.... Tehehe

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears. And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. Get over your hill and see what you find there, With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair. ~Momford and Sons (After The Storm) I love this song. It is word for word where I feel like I am in my life right now. I have had many fears, shed thousands of tears (yes I cry), more than one broken heart. Now I'm trying to climb the hills and mountains of fears and temptations that try to over shadow me. Grace for My Man, being hurt deeply doesn't make it easy to leave room for anything less than perfection and that is not fair. And.... Well I'm still a kid at heart and I love flowers in my hair... and he likes flowers in my hair too ;) I figure if anyone reads this they deserve to know about this huge part of my life. :) I could go on and on about him and who he is... but seeing as this is my blog I think I shall be selfish and tell ho...
Read more

it's not all about me? LAME! lol jk

1 chorenhians 10:31 What ever you do, do it for the glory of GOD. I put this verse up on my mirror in the bath room so I can read it every morning. I have to be reminded all day every day that it's not about me it's about God, and it being about God means it's about the people around us. Today I reallllllly wanted to sleep in and NOT GO TO CHURCH, while I know God would still love me I went anyways and now I'm so glad I did. Our paster used a quote that said, "Live fully, Love wastefully." (sarah isn't smart enough to rember who said it.) When we put these two thoughts together we can truly learn to live like Christ and live the life that Christians are supposed to. I wrote a persuasive speech this year that is on a really hard issue for a lot of conservitive Christans to agree with. I have felt ever since summer that I was supossed to write it and give it at these tournoments. It's really hard for me because I'm really competitive.... that...
Read more