{"id":1936,"date":"2018-01-29T05:00:18","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2018-03-06T07:38:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T13:38:36","slug":"unity-natural-or-supernatural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/2018\/01\/unity-natural-or-supernatural\/","title":{"rendered":"Unity \u2013 Natural or Supernatural?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y1 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">Many organizations, and not a few churches, talk of \u201cunity. It seems this is a much to be desired<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y3 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">characteristic for groups. The fact that it is so often discussed, is an indication we have not yet<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y4 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">arrived at the unity we desire. There is a good reason for this. True unity is not natural. It is<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y5 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">supernatural. The natural tendency is to claim our space, speak our mind, fight for our cause,<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y6 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">and push for uniformity (which is not the same as unity). Uniformity insists that someone<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y7 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">change to fit another. It allows little room for compromise. Unity values differences. You don\u2019t<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y8 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">have to be uniform to be united. Puritan Minister of an earlier century, Roger Williams wrote,<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1y9 pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">\u201cWe find not in the Gospel, that Christ hath anywhere provided for the uniformity of churches,<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1ya pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">but only for their unity.\u201d So, what does the Apostle Paul mean when he states the church should<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1yb pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">be, \u201cEndeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit\u201d (Ephesians 4:3)? If unity is supernatural, then<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1yc pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">God must receive all the glory. We must stop focusing on each other, stop trying to be uniform,<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1yd pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">lay aside our differences, and focus on Jesus. When He is first, it is amazing how many other<\/div>\n<div class=\"t pg-1m0 pg-1x0 pg-1h2 pg-1ye pg-1ff1 pg-1fs0 pg-1fc0 pg-1sc0 pg-1ls0 pg-1ws0\">things fall rightly into place.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many organizations, and not a few churches, talk of \u201cunity. It seems this is a much to be desired characteristic for groups. The fact that it is so often discussed, is an indication we have not yet arrived at the unity we desire. There is a good reason for this. True unity is not natural&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-morning-manna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}