Unity

I wrote this article for a magazine several months ago and read it today and thought that it was quite relevant for what has been going on lately, Go God!  Just wanted to post it on my blog site as well.

Cor. 12:25-26 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

Unity has been on my mind and heart a lot lately. What does this look like and how can we as believers cultivate an atmosphere to propagate it in our communities.

I can remember when I first met Chuck I was so naive when it came to people in the ministry. Entertainment ministry can be just as cutthroat as working in the entertainment industry. I believe that part of the reason is because there is competition in this type of ministry. And, I actually think competition is a good thing. It brings out the best in us all when we are trying to “out do” each other. I have always tried to surround myself with people that challenge me to become greater, sharper, and smarter than what I am. Though in doing this we must all focus on what our main object is and to be honest everyone’s objective is different. The obvious reason is Jesus, but there are so many objectives just in Christ. Some focus on getting people saved and that is their only focus; some focus on healing and helping people to find God in his resurrection power. Some focus on the mission of Christ and the power of gaining disciples to go out and reproduce more disciples. While one has a heart to feed and clothe the poor another has a heart to make finances to fund kingdom dreams.

One of the biggest blessings in our life is that God has allowed us to go into many different arenas in the Christian world. We have had the privilege in observing different passions when it comes to spreading the gospel. What I have discovered is that when you find someone who is passionate about what God has called them to they sometimes have tunnel vision and start to believe that the kingdom can only move through what they are doing and they shut out other ideas or other thoughts on how to accomplish spreading the message, many times not hearing or being open to another’s view points. We see this everyday in our political sectors. No one cares what the other side is saying so they close their ears to opposing views and while shouting their message out for all to hear. Because of this we are now seeing the rest of the world turning away from us because we are loud and obnoxious and there seems to be no love in our mix. Scripture says that the world will know we are different because of our love for one another.

It always disturbs me to hear ministers, singers or artist’s defaming each other. When I minister to individuals that are struggling with any issue in their life I always direct them back toward their heart.

God is doing something new in our world, not just in this genre we are in, but all around the world I see God moving. The world is experiencing a real renaissance period. The way life is being lived is changing. There is a shaking occurring. Everyday we see evidence of this on the news. Jesus described it: “wars and rumor of wars.” But in this shaking I believe that there is greatness coming forth from the universe as well. Every aspect of our world is being redefined and now more than ever it is important to press into what God is saying over us. What is he calling into existence and not what we are busy creating this is what we need to believe and stand firm in.

I believe in competition, but if we are to see this genre stand and flourish we must find a place of unity in Christ and not name call or denigrate each other. We must believe whole-heartedly that we are one body and that when one hurts we all hurt and when one has a number one we all rejoice with that artist. When you see an artist become successful we all rejoice with that artist and when an artist walks into a greater arena than we do we praise God for opening that door for them and not become jealous or question why is wasn’t us. When we start to realize that we are so intricately connected that what ever happens to one happens to us all then we will start seeing our genre grow and we will start seeing a movement in Christian Country.

I am ready how about you?