How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!  

- Psalms 133:1

Have we not one father? Has not one God created us?  

- Malachi 2:10

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  

- John 13:34-35

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  

- John 17:20-23

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.  

- Romans 12:16

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  

- Ephesians 4:1-3

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God’s holy word calls for unity. He speaks through psalmists, prophets, Jesus, Paul and others, urging us to live in peace and unity with one another. Our unity is so important it was a central topic of Jesus’s teaching during the Last Supper and a central topic of His prayer for us later that evening. Two thousand years ago Jesus prayed for us. As recorded in the chapter-long prayer set forth as John 17, Jesus prays that we will enjoy relationships characterized by unity, that we each will be united as one with God through Jesus Christ’s indwelling, and that the entire, collective union will be as the Father and Son is one (I know, “is” doesn’t sound right, but our language is not designed with the Holy Trinity in mind).

We are called to unity, and we have tools connecting us with others around the world as never before. A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted Dino Flore saying, “Today we have about eight billion cellular connections, which is a scale unprecedented in human history… we are talking about expanding that to tens of billions. So the scale – it’s unimaginable.” Eight billion people have the ability to communicate instantaneously with one another. When considering the availability of devices enabling communication, humans have broader and faster connection than ever before. I recently shared an instantaneous text exchange with a friend in China. We were on opposite sides of the globe – his clock was thirteen hours ahead of mine – and our conversation was as seamless and fast and free as if I were sharing it with someone across town. It boggles my simple mind.

We have tools connecting us widely and instantaneously as never before, to fashion and build and maintain meaningful, transparent, real relationships with people around the globe; yet, we are divided. Unfortunately, while connection is essential to unity, they are not synonymous. Why are we connected, yet divided?

Scripture tells us that this is nothing new, which explains why Jesus prayed for our unity 2,000 years ago. Paul accuses the church in Corinth of division. He explains that they are divided because the flesh, not the spirit, guides them. In this context, “flesh” depicts our worldly selves, a state of being separated from God and associated with Satan, the “god of this world,” the “ruler of this world.” Paul writes,

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?  1 Corinthians 3:1-3

I have heard relationships described, not as a line segment with two points, but as a triangle with three – God and the two people involved in the relationship. As each person grows closer to God, they move closer to one another. God is the source of unity. He is love, and when our actions are characterized by love we act as His disciples. If we are connected, yet divided, we should pause and pray and seek God through His holy word and look within ourselves to assess where our hearts and how our actions are separated from God’s will and love, and as we each grow closer to God we will discover enhanced unity with one another.

Unity is so important that Jesus prayed for our unity during those few precious hours dividing the Last Supper and His arrest. He took the time to pray for us, and He prayed for our unity. We live in a time of unprecedented connectivity. May we each grow in Christ, and may our global connectivity lead to global unity.