Faith, hope and love unite us

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

Photo by Riza Nugraha  

In a world where conflict abounds at every level, the ability of Christians to live and work together in unity should be a wonderful testimony to the truth and power of the gospel. Yet Christians are often as bitterly divided as anyone else. The world, the flesh and the devil poison our fellowship.

The world offers us endless distractions from spending time with each other. It encourages gossip while mocking those who try to live out the truth. The world teaches us to be impatient with the weak and those we disagree with, envious of others’ successes, and self-promoting.

The flesh, our human nature, instead of rejoicing in the richness of our diverse personalities and backgrounds, finds difference threatening and prompts us to demand our own way. It holds on to hurts and grievances instead of seeking healing.

And Satan, whose aim is to divide the church and  leave it powerless, uses even what is good to disunite us. When conflicts arise he rejoices, and when we ignore them he is just as happy, since dishonesty is as paralysing as disunity.

But God has provided us with antidotes to these poisons. First, our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which brings us reconciliation with God. Nothing compares in importance to this. In faith we consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. (Philippians 3:8)

Second, hope, which lets us forgo having our own way in everything, because we know that we have an eternal future. Though we teach and encourage one another, hope also prevents us from trying to take responsibility for changing one another, since we know that it is the Holy Spirit's work to make each of us more Christ-like.

And finally love, the sort of love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (see 1 Cor 13.) Love like that can only come from God himself. It produces harmony among us and brings him glory.