Unity.

 "Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.  But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.  He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us."
Ephesians 2:11-18


When I read this passage it made me sad. Here's Paul, writing about how Jesus was crucified and tortured so that everyone may have peace. Jesus suffered so that we could all work as one body together to serve him. The part that makes me sad is I don't see this happen very often in the christian community. We're too busy trying to convince people to come to this one particular church or this one particular denomination instead of helping one another as we discover who Christ has made us to be and how he's created us to serve him in a unique and marvelous way. Why don't different denominations unite with one another? Is it just me or does this passage state that Christ died so that we could have unity. Unity must be extremely important if Christ was willing to do what he did so that we may have it. It's just easy to let pride and interpretation to create barriers that do not benefit in furthering the kingdom of God. Success comes with unity. Jesus was right, it is important. Too bad we take advantage of our freedom and choose not to unite. Just imagine, if we all worked as one body like God intended us to. The results would be epic.