MAKE EVERY EFFORT 

Dylan Blanton 

Today’s Scripture: “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” Ephesians 4:3, NLT 

Theme: Pursuing peace shows maturity and obedience and promotes unity. 

WORK AT IT  

Unity isn’t passive. It’s not something that just happens because we are Christians. It’s something that we have to fight for, protect, and prioritize—even when personalities clash, our preferences differ, or someone just rubs us the wrong way. Paul doesn’t say, “Try to get along when it’s convenient.” He says that we must “make every effort” to stay united. He is telling us that we must keep unity, not that we must create unity. Unity is a gift that is given to us by the Holy Spirit; our job is to guard it!  

UNITY IS HARD 

Some people are very easy to love, and some people can...stretch us. Someone who talks too much, never listens, disagrees with everything, sees the world differently, has a personality that clashes with our own, or maybe even someone who has hurt us: these people are hard to love. You are probably thinking about someone that checks off some of those boxes. But this is exactly what Paul is talking about when he tells us that we have to make every effort! Unity is hard because it requires humility, patience, and sacrifice. Those are all things that our flesh resists! Alone we cannot possibly hope to maintain unity, but this where the Gospel shines the brightest! When we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our decisions and how we react to these types of people, that is when we can work on moving ourselves out of the way and settling into a place where God’s unity matters more than our comfort or our opinions.  

UNITY IS A WITNESS 

John 13:35 (NLT) says, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Jesus is saying that people will recognize us by our love for each other, not by our worship style, our theological knowledge, our political alignment, or our personal compatibility. When believers who are different choose to stay united, the world sees something supernatural. This type of unity cannot be explained without Jesus. Something in us must die to stay united this way. It could be our pride, entitlement, the need to be right, the urge to retaliate, the desire to withdraw. Unity always costs something, but it costs far less than division. After all, the price we pay for unity (humility, patience, and sacrifice) is the same price that Jesus paid to unite us at the cross.  

UNITY ISN’T SAMENESS 

Unity doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything or like everyone’s personality. It doesn't mean that we pretend that preferences don’t exist or avoid hard conversations with each other. It does, however, mean that we have to learn to choose peace over preference, grace over irritation, and love over separation. Unity is not uniformity; it is diversity held together with love.  

Make It Personal: Take some time to pray for the person that you struggle with. Listen more than you speak. Let go of small things. Remember how patient God is with you. We must strive to give the grace that we have received! Unity isn’t natural; it is the Spirit’s work in us and our cooperation with Him. When we choose unity, we look like Jesus. We live out the Gospel, and we show the world a love that doesn’t make sense apart from God! Unity is honoring the One that made peace with us when we were being the difficult ones 

Pray: Lord, help me to love all people, even the ones who are the hardest for me to get along with. Let the Holy Spirit create unity in me and through me. Help me to be an example of the love that You have shown us. Even though I have made mistakes, You loved me anyway. Help me forgive and move on. Help to let go of myself and my desires and truly live united with other people. In Your Name, Amen.  

Read: John 13:34-35 

Weekly Memory Verse: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” 1 Peter 4:8-9, ESV