{"id":2203,"date":"2020-06-15T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2203"},"modified":"2020-05-30T16:19:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T21:19:53","slug":"why-unity-is-good-and-pleasant-in-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/06\/15\/why-unity-is-good-and-pleasant-in-your-life\/","title":{"rendered":"WHY UNITY IS GOOD AND PLEASANT IN YOUR LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cHow good and pleasant it is when God\u2019s people live together in unity!\u201d (Psalm 133:1 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unity means peace.  No matter where you live in the world, you live in some kind of community.  No one can survive alone.  We need people in our lives.  We need people different from us in our lives.   Imagine if every single person in the world was exactly the same.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God help us if everyone was like me.  I\u2019m impulsive and rash.  I have a one track mind which is hard to derail.  I need other people in my life to balance me out.  My husband, my friends, they help me see the whole truth, not just my truth.  We all need that kind of help.  God created each differently.  We each have a different purpose.  When we live in unity, we\u2019re allowing those around us to live the lives God intended them too.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we don\u2019t allow people to live their lives.  We think we know better than God what they should do.  We all have opinions.  We all think we\u2019re right.  Living in unity isn\u2019t about right or wrong.  Living in unity is about resolution.  Learning to agree to disagree and still love one another.  Unity isn\u2019t easy, it requires work.  The reward far outweighs the toil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unity means peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our world needs peace.  COVID has affected our thinking.  I\u2019ve questioned my sanity at times with things that occurred.  People have pent up emotions that need release.  Riots are happening.  Tragedies are occurring.  I pray more about the violence in today\u2019s world than COVID.  We aren\u2019t accepting others who are different from us.  We\u2019re not loving everyone like they are our neighbor.  If we were, unnecessary deaths wouldn\u2019t happen.  Racial disputes wouldn\u2019t exist.  We would live in unity and at peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone God created has a part to play in this world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ.\u201d (<\/em>1 Corinthians 12:12 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Christ followers, we all have the same commandment to follow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.<\/em> <\/em><\/strong>The second is this: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 There is no commandment greater than these.\u201d (<\/em>Mark 12:30-31 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loving God, loving others.\u00a0 When they asked Jesus which commandment was the greatest, His answer was simple.\u00a0 If we, as Christ followers were following His words better, unity in this world would exist.\u00a0 People would know us for our love.\u00a0 Hatred would not exist.\u00a0Value people, they’ll know they’re valuable.\u00a0 Love is a verb that requires work.\u00a0 But the payoff is unity.\u00a0 Love God, love others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you love God, love others today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading: <\/strong>1 Kings 14:1-15:24 NIV<\/a>, Acts 10:1-23 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 133:1-3 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 17:7-8 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHow good and pleasant it is when God\u2019s people live together in unity!\u201d (Psalm 133:1 NIV) Unity means peace.  No matter where you live in the world, you live in some kind of community.  No one can survive alone.  We need people in our lives.  We need people different from us in our lives.  … Continue reading WHY UNITY IS GOOD AND PLEASANT IN YOUR LIFE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2203"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2206,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203\/revisions\/2206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}