With Whom Do I Claim Unity?

Ephesians 4:

1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Thomas Paine said, “It is not in numbers, but in a union, that our great strength lies.” That is biblical.

Eccl. 410-12: Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The Bible is very clear that through unity is strength and that we were designed to gather strength from each other!

But WHAT am I supposed to be united WITH? It does not seem profitable to have unity just for the sake of unity. Do I stand with someone who actively works against my principles and beliefs just because they call themselves by a common name? No. Unity for the sake of unity is not the key here. Look at this passage in Ephesians 4.

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But ye have not so learned Christ;

21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

We are NOT to have unity with vanity, lasciviousness, greediness, and lies. The purpose of our unity is:

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

We cannot work toward edifying the “body” in “truth” if we are continually associated with people who are openly engaged in vanity, lasciviousness, greediness, and lies. There is NO UNITY in that, that is being UNEQUALLY yoked.

Today there are too many who want to carry a name they have not lived. We are to judge someone by their fruits. If their actions are continually pointing a self-serving manner, in a way that sacrifices what is good, for their own comfort and gain, then those fruits identify them regardless of the name they profess.

Again Thomas Paine gives a good measure of fruits in a story he tells in his pamphlet “The American Crisis.”

“I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, “Well! give me peace in my day.” Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;”

I can have NO KINSHIP with people who will give my child “trouble” just so they may have “peace” in their day. I can have NO KINSHIP with those who operate in personal greed, vanity, lasciviousness, and lies. This is not opinion, these are the Words of God!

Christians! We have an Biblical Responsibility to distinguish ourselves from any person or group that would ACT contrary to the Word of God. That includes politicians and political parties, regardless of their “professions.” We cannot fulfill the obligation of edifying to the truth if we are unequally yoked with liars and men or women whose hearts lust after greed and comfort.

This is not an essay on politics, this is an essay on morality. My husband always says, “you are who you roll with.” That, apparently is Biblical, too. Who you are yoked with is who you will be.

I will endeavor to be yoked with Christ’s Liberty. I will endeavor to be yoked with these Principles. I will endeavor to be yoked with this Truth. And I want my child to live in a country where the government is dedicated to Liberty, Principles, and Truth. Because if they are not, regardless of their party title, then I am NOT to be associated with them.