I am deeply saddened by the division in our nation. But I am even more heartbroken by the division in the church. How have we forgotten to focus on the thing that should unite us?

My head explodes when I allow myself to wade into some of the social media discourse happening between followers of Jesus Christ and non-believers. There are important cultural issues that Christians need to prayerfully and gracefully address. What I see is rarely graceful and that makes me wonder how prayerful the messengers have been before hitting the send button. 

Because of the nature of social media a topic that should be thoughtfully debated instead becomes an us versus them war. The conversation easily drifts toward broad brushing of others with often unfair assignation of motives. 

These judgements of motives and personal attacks are so damaging to the message of grace that I hold so dear. Sometimes I try to imagine myself as a skeptical seeker looking to explore this Christianity thing. I am pretty sure if I stumbled on some of these mean-spirited threads I would run straight for the secular hills.

The irony of this need to “win” the argument at the expense of Christian charity and love may be one more profoundly effective tactic of the enemy. The moment the Church is divided by culture instead of united in Christ is the moment our light is extinguished.

My dear friend Ed Underwood heads up a ministry called Recentered that helps struggling churches recognize where they need to refocus. He made this comment to me recently.

“I think the worst sin a Christian can commit is to create disunity in the body of Christ.”

Don’t lose his point. Of course there are worse things some might do but he is talking about the daily living out of our faith in the church community. The ripples of disunity spread across the entire body with devastating effects.

I wish followers of Jesus would proclaim what we are FOR more passionately than what we are against. What if we decided to spend all of our energy proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel and the amazing gift of grace? I heard an amazing insight about how we should view sharing our faith in love with others.

“We are often unsure if we should share the Gospel with others. But the truth is we are simply joining in a conversation that the Holy Spirit has already started.”

What if we decided to be a little kinder, give a little more, serve a little more often, and commit to unity in our ranks? There is no more powerful community than a group of believers who live in unity. Nothing levels the playing field like genuinely following Jesus. 

Famous preacher D.L. Moody had this warning. “I have never yet known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord’s people were divided.”

Even as Jesus faced the agony of His betrayal and crucifixion this was his selfless prayer.

May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. (John 17:23, NLT)

We can do so much better in showing the culture what love, unity, and grace looks like. The One that unites us is so much more important than the things that divide us. Can we commit to pray for unity in the body of Christ? Satan does not want our church to proceed in unity. The choice is ours.