Unity vs. Uniformity Where God’s Spirit is present in a community you will find a unity that transcends differences. People will be bound to each other in a way that makes no cultural or earthly sense. Enemies will be friends, divisions will be overcome, hatreds will be healed. Where the Spirit is not present we often construct a false unity—a perception of unity by forcibly eliminating all differences. What human efforts produce is mere uniformity where external behaviors, appearances, and preferences do not deviate. In such communities everyone thinks the same, talks the same, likes the same music, and pursues the same goals. In other words, human power can produce a community that would probably exist even without God’s Spirit, and such a community will show an ungodly intolerance toward those who do not fit with the program. Last year I was passing through the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. In the middle of the terminals were these odd glass boxes, about eight feet square, with a door. Above each box was a sign that said, “CAMEL.” They were smoking chambers sponsored by Camel cigarettes. Smokers were crammed inside like animals in a zoo exhibit, while other travelers stopped, pointed, and even took pictures of the odd people in the smoked-filled glass boxes. A church built on human uniformity rather than the Spirit’s unity is like those smoking chambers. At first glance these churches appear to be a tight community of people all committed to the same activity. Look more closely, however, and churches without the Spirit’s power are just a group of strangers who gathering occasionally in a box, blow smoke at each other, and appear very odd to those outside. When the Spirit builds a people, on the other hand, it is possible to experience far more than just uniformity. The Spirit fosters a oneness that rests far deeper than conformity to social, cultural, and behavioral preferences. Do you want to be comfortable by surrounding yourself with people who always think like you, vote like you, live like you? Is that your idea of Christian community? Or are you ready for the kind of unity that only happens, and can only happen, when the Spirit is present? Are you ready to embrace people as your brother or sister in Christ that you’d never embrace for any other reason? Skye Jethani
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:30:10 +0000
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