On Unity

by Diana Gobbi

Unity.  It’s easy to say but harder to live.  If we look around our country, our cities, our neighborhoods, and sometimes even in our own households, we see that unity is not exactly what find.  However, we also know God has invited his followers to live united.  

Philippians 2:2 “Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one 

in spirit and of mind.”

Psalm 133:1 “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”

Ephesians 4:3 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

The struggle is real.

I love the story of Nehemiah.  After years in exile, the Jewish people were able to return home.  The walls around the city, as well as their temple, had long since been destroyed.  They had come home only to face overwhelming problems.  How did they handle it?  They “gathered together as one man” (Nehemiah 8:1).  They worked with a unified purpose to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.  God provided the materials, the time, and the workers to get the job done. He even showed Nehemiah great favor as he traveled back to his homeland.  However, that wasn’t enough.  Suppose they argued over how many bricks to put in a certain section of the wall or whose turn it was to climb the ladder and carry the bricks all the way to the top.  The wall would have likely never been finished.  It was working together and not giving up, despite the differences in opinions among the workers, that ultimately led to their success.

Nehemiah showed great leadership because he focused on how far his people had come rather than on how far they had to go.  He knew with certainty that God had created him for this moment of restoring the wall, and he had faith that with God’s help, it would get done.  

A pastor once told me that one horse can pull 1,000 pounds, and two horses can pull 10,000 pounds. That’s pretty astounding! Here at Hope Church, we celebrate that we are many differentparts of one body in Christ. Imagine what we can do with all of us working in unity to accomplish God’s assignments for us in the Paulding community. Our differences are not as important as our mission. Like Nehemiah, we are doing a great work, and with God’s help, it will get done.