Wednesday, February 18th

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February 18: Better Together

So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

—Acts 13:3

It may be a little ironic that the first word in our country’s name is United. After all, the United States prides itself in being one of the most independent, individualistic countries in the world.

Social commentators have conducted countless experiments to show the difference between the way people in individualistic cultures view the world and the way people in collective societies tend to think. For example, an article from the U-T San Diego describes a study that contrasted the worldviews of a sample group from the U.S. and China: “If you show an American an image of a fish tank, the American will usually describe the biggest fish in the tank and what it is doing. If you ask a Chinese person to describe a fish tank, the Chinese will usually describe the context in which the fish swim.”

Our cultural tendency to see things from an individual perspective instead of a group perspective is not inherently wrong or negative, but we do need to be aware of the unique struggles that may cause as we strive for unity within the church.

The truth is, sometimes it just seems easier to try to do the spiritual life alone. We may have been burned in the past, so we put up walls around our hearts. We keep other people at a distance, and in doing so, we think we’re protecting ourselves from getting hurt. We figure we will avoid the messiness of letting other people see our brokenness and getting too close to theirs.

And even when we long to experience unity with other Christians, sometimes our differences loom so large that the gap seems insurmountable. Those differences can be intimidating, especially when we don’t understand what makes other people tick.

Other times we’re envious of the gifts others have, feeling like we don’t measure up, so we hold back. And sometimes it’s simple pride that gets in the way; our stubbornness prevents us from getting close to people and accepting that our way may not be the only way.

Between our own struggles and the society we live in, there are threats to unity flying at us from nearly every direction. But the struggle to find unity is not unique to the twenty-first-century church. Back when the church was just beginning, the believers had to fight against divisions too. They knew that if the church was to grow and be effective, they would need to be unified. In fact, in Jesus’ final prayer for his disciples, he prayed three times that they would be one, just as he is one with the Father (John 17:11, 21, 22). If Jesus felt the need to triple-pray that prayer, he must have known it would be a big struggle for them—and for us.

The early church recognized that unity doesn’t come easily. It requires effort, empathy, and potentially uncomfortable conversations, but it’s worth it. Why? Not only because we’ve been created with a deep need for community, but also because we are his plan for carrying his message of redemption into the world. The church won’t be able to fulfill that calling if we spend our energy on in-fighting or if we are isolated from one another. But when we come together with our unique experiences, personalities, and gifts, we will experience life-giving community. On top of that, we will be able to advance God’s Kingdom in ways we never could alone.

In this passage we see one of the keys to unity in the early church: prayer. When the church was preparing to send out their first missionaries, they prayed together. For those believers, prayer wasn’t just something they did in the privacy of their homes; it was also an essential part of their relationships.

Challenge: Find one person to pray with today. Ask God to bring unity to our church and to the church as a whole.

—Stephanie Rische