You've probably encountered someone whose opinions are different from yours. You've probably met that person during a small group or online discussion, or even within your own circle of friends and family.
Some Christians may sometimes believe that for peace and unity to be attained, we should all have the same opinions. This faulty kind of thinking is the prime cause of broken marriages, split churches and disposable relationship.
Ephesians 4:1-2 shows us God's true heart for unity, as Paul says, "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
Unity is God's way of things. It's in His nature. God is three different beings—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—coexisting perfectly as one God. That doesn't mean that God is two beings who are completely alike. Though God is three beings co-equal and co-eternal, they operate in different ways and serve different functions all contributing to the whole.
That's God's true picture of unity. Unity is not the same as uniformity. Unity is taking all things—the identical and the different—and treating them as parts of the whole. In fact, our differences may even be our strength, not our weakness.
Opinions will not always be shared. Some may be right, others may be wrong, and other times both sides may be right.
But there are more important things to God than having the right opinion. Just as we are reminded in Ephesians 4:1, we are urged to follow the right manner of living, not to have the right opinion. In the kingdom of God, character and heart matter more than opinions.
That's not to say that we abandon any search for truth, or that truth is relative. Many times truth is absolute, and we are called to search for it. But God desires that we pursue truth together with others who have varying perspectives, opinions and mindsets.
The truth we seek is the truth found in Christ. As Jesus once said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
Jesus is the Truth, and the Truth we seek is most pleased when we pursue Him together.
There can be unity in the absence of uniformity because we are united by one God and made complete in each other's differences.
