Unity vs Uniformity – Ephesians 4:15-16 I have had the stark contrast between unity and uniformity come to mind several times in the last month. I am amazed every time that I see true unity in different areas of life. The beautiful picture of a stained glass window. The pleasure of the right tea blend. The flavors melding together in a mouthwatering soup. Simple everyday pleasures that hold complex unity in their creation. With uniformity instead of unity, the beauty fades, the flavor is bland.   Paul gives us in Ephesians a picture of a body, unified in its diversity of parts. This is a beautiful picture that we can’t help but take with us everywhere we go. The functionality of the body works exquisitely because there is variation. To simplify and try to understand the workings of the body, there has been a push to compare our bodies to machines where each part has uniformity across the kind.1 We are given diagrams of a brain, an eye, a tooth, a cell, and so forth and told that they function in a uniform manner in each person. If you have a problem with any one part of the body, it can be compared to this model of that part and the solution is to treat it the same as the model. The problem lies in the reality that no two people have identical parts, each part of every person is unique. Uniformity needs averages, but our bodies do not conform to averages.2,3 Instead God creates us each with unique and perplexing variation that requires us to dig deeper, build relationships, and get to know the actual person. When we do this, it opens doors both for healing and for growth. Unity Requires Endurance Once you understand that every part of a body is truly unique, then the way forward is to invite understanding. Each part needs to know how the other parts function in order to operate in concert with each other. This understanding builds love. The more we communicate our strengths and weaknesses with each other, the more we have opportunities to support one other, show kindness to each other, and demonstrate God’s love in our words and interactions.James calls us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another that we may be healed. By doing this, we are learning to speak truth with humility and to restore others at the feet of Jesus. Honesty about our failures and struggles and taking them before the Throne of God with each other, unites us in a way that brings freedom and joy into our relationships. It helps to reduce the opportunity for bitterness to take root or gossip to spread. It shapes our habitual responses to hearing about someone’s struggles to be a prayer for their healing instead of sustaining the rumor mill. This path forward is both challenging and rewarding. It requires endurance when things are difficult and understanding is minimal. It takes determination to choose to encourage each other and find a way to work together in harmony while respecting each other’s God-given unique traits, personalities, and gifts. The most difficult times come when there is a need for what Wilder & Hendricks call “healthy correction” – pointing people back to who Jesus says we are in Him when our words or actions don’t match.4 It is with the strength of unity where we are building each other up instead of tearing each other down, that we are able to stand firm in the faith against the schemes of the devil.5 We must remember that our fight is not against each other. Our fight is against spiritual powers of darkness that wish to destroy every stronghold of God.5 It wants to tear down the Kingdom of Light that shines in the darkness. Are we going to remember that it is not humans we are fighting against, but humans we are fighting for? Even the worst of mankind is made in the image of the Creator and has potential for reconciliation and restoration to the Family of God. It is not the human we are fighting against, but the spirit of darkness that is blinding, deceiving, destroying, and manipulating them. Can we endure and communicate with one another so that the devil doesn’t win by destroying our relationships? Can we seek guidance from the Holy Spirit when we don’t agree on how to move forward instead of parting ways? Can we allow God to work in and through us to bring unity to His people rather than allow the devil to win by separating us from each other? Unity Brings Growth I have experienced for myself that much of the reason for the separation is that we haven’t been taught how to understand our differences as strengths and know that they are essential pieces to the picture of what God is choosing to do in and through us. Ephesians 4 gives a preface for unity that helps address this area of lack. It speaks of roles that are given expressly for a purpose – to equip the saints to build up the body of Christ. This is talking about DISCIPLESHIP. If we stop at the place where we are comfortable enough to know that we have individual faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and nothing is compelling us forward, we are missing the stewardship we have been given. At this juncture, it is easy to fall into the trap of the one talent – bury it in the ground lest we mess up.6 I don’t believe that most Christians are truly content to stop at personal salvation. There is a gift we have been given and a desire to use that gift to build up the body of Christ. This kernel is planted in the hearts of believers in Jesus and is watered by other Christians around us. Remember that it is God who gives the growth in the measure that He assigns.7…