One of the songs I often sang in college devotionals was “We Are One In The Spirit.” The song was written in 1966 by Peter Scholte. The first verse and chorus go like this:
We are One in The Spirit,
We are One in The Lord.
We are One in The Spirit,
We are One in The Lord.
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
Chorus
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love,
By our Love,
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
While it appears almost contradictory that the lyrics say that “we are one,” yet we are to “pray that all unity may one day be restored” they are really not conflicting statements. The Apostle Paul writes about the same thing in Ephesians 4. In Ephesians 4:4-6, Paul writes, “4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Without a doubt, Christians are “one” in the Spirit; “one” in the Lord; “one” in our faith; “one” in our baptism; and “one” in the Father. Yet, there are often things that cause division in the Lord’s church (1 Corinthians 11:18). Some of the things that cause division in the body of Christ are so incredibly trivial that the Lord must look upon the church and shed tears for the way His children act. This is why we can sing and pray, “that all unity may one day be restored.”
Ephesians 4:2-3 reminds to us act “2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” This, in no way, means that we are to be tolerant of other religions that profess another savior than Jesus. There are also definite Scriptural issues that can never be bent to please someone so that they can do whatever it is they want to do. It merely means to be flexible with petty, trivial issues (2 Timothy 2:23). It merely means to work our best at keeping peace in the Lord’s church through healthy conflict resolution. In this way, our peace and unity can be maintained in spirit and purpose (John 17:20-21).
The rest of the song goes:
We will work with each other,
We will work side by side.
We will work with each other,
We will work side by side.
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity
And save each man’s pride.
Chorus
We will walk with each other,
We will walk hand in hand.
We will walk with each other,
We will walk hand in hand.
And together we’ll spread the News
that God is in our land.
Chorus
Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Let’s make sure that we all follow Jesus’ command to love one another so that everyone will know we are Christians.
