This Psalm goes on to say unity is like oil that runs down from the head upon all the body and it is the place God commands the blessing, life.
I began to think of all the places the bible speaks of being in one accord, everyone saying and doing the same thing, being of one heart and one mind. This just can not be done apart from God. Jesus’ greatest intercessory prayer for His church was that we would be one. One with the Father. One with the Son. One with each other.
Separation occurs when the heart removes it’s connection with God. When we hold fast to the head, everything about the Father, His love, His word, His spirit work to maintain vital unity. It is simple deception to believe that we are one with God when we are separate from our brother. You will remember from Malachi that God hates divorce. Jesus said divorce is only allowable because of the hardness of heart. God doesn’t hate the people, God hates what it does to them. It is a violent act to separate one. When we think of divorce we think in terms of marriage, yet the very principle is sound when it comes to the body of Christ. God’s heart is for us to remain vitally united to him and to each other.
If God sets the members in the body as it pleases him, according to 1 Corinthians 12:18, and we remove ourselves from Gods ordained position, there can be no righteous unity in the place I’ve ordained for myself. Mankind’s universal sin is the propensity to walk in his own way and do what is right in his own sight. As believers, it is easy to continue this with clever Christianized justification. Finding others who will affirm our sin. Offense or un-forgiveness will never make us right in the sight of God. It requires a returning to the Lord in repentance and restoration of relationships.
God looks at the heart of man. It’s not about what we perform. We can look good on the outside while holding disdain and dishonor in our heart. Discord, division, in the body comes as a high price, we lose the place of God’s commanded blessings, life.
1 Corinthians chapter 11 gives us the picture of a body of believers lacking honor for its members. The disdain in the way they ate their meals without a care for the poor among them was a reproach. The apostle Paul went on to write that without judging the Lord’s body properly, a right union with God and a right union with the members, many are weak(sick and infirm) and many sleep (die).
We want to walk in the fulness of the blessing of God. We want to enjoy the abundant life God has given us in Christ Jesus. It does require a heart that remains open, embracing and honoring every member.
Believing the best and honoring the brotherhood works to hold our hearts in a place of unity. This is His way that promises the oil to flow and the blessing of life for us individually and collectively. What God has joined together let not man put asunder.