I heard a podcast this morning about the idea of unity. You know working together with a common goal? Each using their individual talents, skills and abilities for a common good.
There’s a story in the Bible that I’m sure most of us have at least heard of at one point or another. It goes something like this.
The people of Israel were gathering together and getting better at pretty much everything. They were building a nation with cities and walls and towers. They learned how to make bricks and stack them in a way that made it safe to climb.
One day they decided that they had learned enough and had enough talent that they could probably make this tower reach high enough to see God, or perhaps at least see the world from his perspective.
They toiled day and night. Sweat. Blood. Tears. All of them flowed as they labored to build this tower.
At some point in the building process, God stooped down. By the way that’s my favorite part. They had such a tall tower that they thought they could reach God and he had to stoop down to even see it.
Then God did something astounding. He confused their languages. This is why the story is called the Tower of Babel, because he made their languages sound like babbling noises of a baby before they learn to talk. Or like Charlie Brown’s teacher on those old Peanuts cartoons.
But the reason is even more important. God, referring to their unity of purpose and mindset, said nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
Do you see it? Essentially what God says here is that as long as they work together as one people, they are virtually unstoppable. They can do whatever they set their minds to, if they stay focused and work together as one.
If God knows this to be true and he’s on our side, then what do you think Satan will do with that same information?
Yep…Divide and conquer.
Satan’s no dummy. He knows that all he has to do is breathe a little discontent with one another and he wins. All he has to do is highlight the warts and flaws on the people around us and he can divide us. Then, as long as we’re distracted and divided by our differences, we move from being unstoppable to being unable.
What kinds of things keep you divided? What differences are hardest for you to overcome? Where have you let Satan bring division when God desires oneness?
One of the greatest ways to overcome this divisive spirit is personal ownership. A question I ask myself regularly in a conflict situation is what slice of this pie do I own? But it only works if everyone sitting at the table asks the same question. As soon as we all can claim our slice of the pie, it becomes much harder to throw that pie at someone else.
Together we can do amazing things!
