There is a myriad of lessons and sermons about Christians unity. There are explanations of what unity is and isn’t and what the boundaries are and aren’t. And I think in most cases the goal of seeking the unity of believers is misplaced and wrong.

God wants us to be unified, to speak the same things, to be one in purpose, but not for us! Not for your church or our “churches”. God wants us to know unity, true unity for His own purposes.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
(Romans 15:5-7)

The unfolding of God’s revelation, the manifestation of his grace and mercy toward us is not about us, it is about Him. The pages of our Bibles are packed with passages about the glory of God and yet we hear precious little about it.

Before there was time, before there was a world, God planned that Christ would come here and be like us in kind but unlike us in holiness and purity. He planned that Jesus would take the sins of mankind and die for us, and then to rise from death and give eternal life to those who would come to him in faith. But it still was not and is not about us! We are not the story of the Bible, God is the story!

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace…

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory

These passages from Ephesians 1 are examples of God’s emphasis on His own praise, His own glory. We are not the end of God’s purpose but rather a means to the end, His greatness and glory!

May our worship, our giving, our living, be to glorify our Father in heaven. May our missions, our budgets, our buildings, move us to glorify God for His greatness. May our marriages, our children, our jobs, our recreation, move us toward giving glory to our God who alone is worthy.

May this be the banner we march under.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)

May we see our purpose as God does.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“Father, help me to not be so near sighted that I focus on me and us and ours but on you and yours. Help me to make myself small that you can be large. Teach me over and over again to not love the praise of men but your glory alone. For your beautiful name. Amen.”