The Path to Peace and Unity
On January 2 in a football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Damar Hamlin tackled Tee Higgins. Then he stood up, stumbled, and feel backwards. Trainers and medical staff rushed to him not knowing what was happening. Everyone could see that this injury was not a normal injury but was life threatening. As everyone watched and waited the medical personal worked on Damar as a unity of concern enveloped everyone watching. Players from both teams knelt on the field to pray and even announcers prayed. For a few moments the normal hostilities, prejudices, team loyalties and politics were set aside out of concern for Damar and we experienced a wonderful sense of unity and peace. We also experienced this unity after 9/11 and whenever there is a common concern over a tragic event. However, the sense of unity and peace was short lived as everyone soon went back to their hostilities and division. Why is this unity only temporary? Because as James says,
“What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
(James 4:1, NIV)
We will never have peace or unity with each other because we are not peace and unity within ourselves. What is the solution?
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting people’s sins against them.
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
(2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
God has reconciled us to himself through Christ so now we are at peace and unity within ourselves. Since we are one with God through Christ and at peace with ourselves through Christ, we can be at peace with each other. The unity we crave is possible only in Christ. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We are commissioned by God to take this message and power of peace and unity to the world around us that is in such conflict. This peace and unity begin in ourselves, our families, our church and then out to the world. Permanent peace and unity are possible in Christ.
How good and pleasant it is when
God’s people live together in unity!
(Psalms 133:1
