Begin, make progress, and continue the work

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

 (Edward Everett Hale)

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3 NLT)

Unity is something we must strive for - it doesn't come naturally to selfish, self-centered humans. We want what is best for us, but we might pursue it at what bears a significant cost to another. We must lay down our own agenda in order to focus on the agendas of peace and unity. Only then will we actually be able to pursue both!

Humility and gentleness are the backbone to unity. We should not raise ourselves up while putting another down. We must focus on what brings good to ALL, not just one. We might encounter individuals in our lifetime that seem to pride themselves on what they can do, have accomplished, or 'know' in their intellect, but when they put that forward as their primary focal point, their 'aim' will always to be their own interests and not that of the whole.

Without humility, it is hard to be patient with each other. It is in remembering that I have my own faults that I am able to be gentle when encountering the faults of another. As the adage says, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." We are not without our own set of 'issues' and 'habits' that others might find a little hard to deal with, so we should not focus on what makes us so different as much as what makes us so much the same!

Christ levels the playing field, so to speak. Sin leveled it for us before we said YES to Jesus, but once we come into his presence, he levels it again, but with true equity. None of us is a worse sinner, none of us is a better saint! All are equal in his eyes, and we must remember that if we are ever to move toward unity in the body of Christ. Gentleness turns away wrath - isn't that what mercy did? Love embraces the filthy - isn't that what God did? Sin doesn't make us worse than another - it makes us the same! Mercy doesn't make us better than another - it brings us into the same divine relationship!

Always be humble and gentle. That is a tall order, to say the least. The ALWAYS part is the hard part, isn't it? We might be able to be gentle with some, but with others, oh my...that is a tall order. Yet, Jesus doesn't give us the 'option' to be gentle sometimes and harsh at others. It is a work in progress, but one mission in which we must never stop making progress. Just sayin!