Unity Requires Perseverance
A few years ago there was a commercial that I absolutely loved! The commercial began with a guy walking into a workout gym. He looks the part of an out of shape gym goer looking to change his body. He puts his headphones on and then runs awkwardly around the gym one time. Slightly out of breath, he takes his headphones off of his ears and steps on the scale. The scale obviously portrays the same number that it did before his little jog. He hits the scale as if it were broken and the commercial ends with a witty comment about customers wanting fast results.
I love this commercial because we all would love for everything to work that fast! We would love to be able to jog for 10 seconds and lose 10 pounds. We would love to work for 10 minutes and earn $10,000. We would love for our transformations to be as instant as our oatmeal, however we have all gotten back onto that scale only to see the same numbers as when we started...and sometimes worse.
Authentic unity is not instant oatmeal, fast food nor a microwavable meal. It does not happen instantly or even quickly. It is much more like chopping down a tree than liking a social media post. Chopping down a tree takes multiple efforts and can require significant time. Liking a social media post takes little to no effort and requires zero time!
Proverbs chapter 24, verse 10 says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small." Because authentic unity is not instant, nor easy, I can guarantee you that in this process there will be moments of adversity. There may be days, weeks or possibly even years of adversity. There will be times when you will be misunderstood, judged or even attacked for attempting to delve into the deep waters of unity. There will be times when you will want to throw your hands up and surrender because your genuine efforts of prayer, humility, understanding and sacrifice are misconstrued and mischaracterized as something entirely different. There will be thoughts of wonder if this is even worth it.
Here is what I can tell you based on Biblical example and personal experience, it is worth it! It will require your strength to be large, and cannot be done with small strength, but that strength to persevere will eventually move the scale. It will eventually chop down that tree. When that day comes that you have genuine relationships that produce authentic unity your life will light up like it never has before! You will see things with a more vibrant lens, a more well rounded perspective and a more complete ability to become who God has asked you to be.
As you go through the process to authentic unity, do not walk into the arena of diversity run around one time and expect results. Do not give one effort and expect results. Do not commit one short time frame and expect results. Do not allow your strength to be small and expect results. Keep running. Keep giving effort. Keep committing time. Keep getting stronger. God will honor those efforts and He will help you fulfill His desire for unity that we read about in John chapter 17!