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Unity of spirit
Posted by: ehuffman | Sat, Jun 2, 2007 3:27 am | Tag(s): Testimonies | Permalink |
Here is an interesting quote from Last Day Events page 92:
“We must make it appear essential to be united, not that we are to require others to come to our ideas, but if all are seeking the meekness and lowliness of Christ they will have the mind of Christ. Then there will be unity of spirit.”
When I read this, I realized that satan is well pleased when we “require others to come to our ideas”, because he knows that unity is not possible when we think this way. It would seem theoretically possible to convince most Adventists to agree with me, thus producing unity. But, what would happen if half of us tried the same thing? Disharmony and divisions would be the sure result!
The reason is that if we are all in the “teaching, convincing mode”, no one would be in the “learning mode”, and no progress toward unity could be made. Take for example the classic “debate”. Those engaging in a debate almost never convince each other, they just strengthen their own opinions – after all, they didn’t come to learn.
Giving up our convictions and saying “oh well” is not the solution either, of course.
I believe the only way to reach the unity that Christ prayed for is to become learners in the school of Christ. If we all become willing to give up any belief that we hold, if the Bible asks us to, and put our minds in “learning mode”, we can realistically come to the unity the Lord desires. If we all let the Spirit teach us, through the scriptures, we will have unity. We must value the Word of God more than our own ideas. We have to bring every thought to the “obedience of Christ”. The time has come to “believe all that the prophets have spoken” whether we fully understand every mystery or not. We don’t have to know just how God will fulfill His “exceeding great and precious promises” to us, our job is to believe those promises.
A couple more quotations:
“We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed. As long as we hold to our own ideas and opinions with determined persistency, we cannot have the unity for which Christ prayed.” — Review and Herald 1892 July 26.
“As we near the close of time, the current of evil will set more and more decidedly toward perdition. We can be safe only as we hold firmly to the hand of Jesus, constantly looking to the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is our mighty Helper. We are to seek God in unity of purpose. We are not to make our ideas and views a criterion for any one else; we are not to set our stakes that we are all right, and our brethren wrong. We should devote ourselves to the study of the plan of salvation, that we may have an appreciation of how highly Jehovah has valued the salvation of man.” — Review and Herald 1890 Oct. 7
Does this theory sound right?
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2 Responses to “Unity of spirit”
matt allen | June 9th, 2007 at 3:30 pmAmen brother! We need to encourage, seek and pray for untiy. But all that pary for the LR may not receive it, but I believe many, many, will and the untiy that we will have will be in Christ Righteouness settled into the truth going forth with greater love for souls pershing to teach them the Love of God that they to might belive and live.
Hart | June 11th, 2007 at 12:24 amI appreciate the comments and quotations on unity. That is a subject I have been wrestling with and studying for years. A few quarters ago when the SS lesson study subject was the Holy Spirit (remember that?) I was led to some of these very quotes in extra reading and searching. Finding and understanding them has changed my life! Operation Global Rain has been a natural progression to my discoveries regarding unity. What I read about OGR ties into the truths I’ve encountered about the Holy Spirit. Yes, it is truth. Isaiah 8:20
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