Have you had a very close relationship with someone? Have you experienced being so close to someone you could finish each other’s sentences? Do you seek that closeness with fellow Christians?
Most of us have had very close relationships. It may have been with a spouse. It may have been with a friend. It may have been with a parent. Those kinds of relationships are special. If or when they are broken apart, there is a hole left behind.
We can have a similar type of bond with our fellow Christians. In fact, we should. We all have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, we can come together in unity to carry out God’s plan for our lives and the church.
Today’s passage is both encouraging and troublesome. It is troublesome when we ponder why we are not being effective in our ministry. It would seem to indicate we are not unified. For if we were unified, our ministry would be blessed by God.
That is the encouraging part, isn’t it? When we are unified in purpose, God blesses us. To be fully unified, we need to be unified in the Spirit. We must set aside our personal preferences and ask God to guide us. When we come together to ask God to guide us and we are open to hearing him, having set aside our personal preferences, he speaks through the Spirit to the group. Yet, if anyone comes with their own agenda, God allows us to wallow in our self-importance.
I pray we all seek to be unified in Spirit. I pray we come together to seek God’s will. I pray each one of us will set aside our personal preferences. Be unified in the Spirit. Seek God’s guidance. Set aside personal preferences. Seek to do God’s will.
Matthew 18:19-20 “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
Marty Pressey 