Attitudes towards Unity
“Be completely humble and gentle, be patient bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:2-3 (NIV)
As Christians our attitudes are of supreme important. Paul speaks of three critical
virtues in our walk with God.
1. Humility
In the Greek culture, humility was thought to be a practice limited to slaves or the lower class. But Paul states that Christians need to be completely humble in their daily walk.
Humility is the opposite of pride and arrogance. Likewise, Christians shouldn’t have to promote false humility; they just need to recognize who they are in God’s plan. Paul
placed humility first in the list of virtuous characteristics on purpose, because he wanted
to promote unity in the body of Christ. Pride creates division, humility promotes unity.
You have to fight a prideful attitude with humility. Jesus Christ was the supreme example of humility. (Philippians 2:6-8
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of Levitra 10mg God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” II Corinthians 10:5
2. Gentleness
A believer needs to be gentle. Gentleness is the opposite of anger and rebellion. We need to keep our emotions under control. We need to make sure that we are getting angry
at the proper moment and never get angry at the wrong moment. Christ was gentle and had humility of heart. Yet, he got angry when the Jews wanted to use the temple as a place of thievery. (Matthew 21:12-13)
Gentleness is power …under control!
3. Patience
The third attitude mentioned is patience. The opposite of patience is impatience and anxiety. Patience is having a spirit that never gives up. It has to with continuing on
in the face of adversity right to the end. (James 5:10) The patient person never seeks
revenge.
Patience is enjoying the differences in others!
How important it is to walk in unity in every area of your life: with your spouse, with your family and with those in your church.