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By Anja Scholl\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Violins, pianos, timpani, and trumpets. They all have a unique sound. We may like some instruments more than others. And when they all sound at the same time, it can quickly become chaotic. But when they form harmonies, many voices become an attractive, beautiful sound that is hard to beat.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It is the same with the church. Christians are a diverse group of people with different opinions, characters, and life situations. This can lead to chaos: conflicts flare up, hurt feelings arise, churches split. Yet healthy unity has a great appeal to others.<\/strong> How can we live in such unity?<\/p>\n The most important thing is that, like an orchestra, we need a conductor to create harmony. For unity is a gift from God<\/strong>. In Ephesians 4:3, we read that we should\u00a0maintain\u00a0unity in the Spirit.\u00a0So,\u00a0we\u00a0don’t\u00a0create it; our task is to preserve it.<\/p>\n But how is that possible when the sound of trumpets makes our toenails curl? We find the answer one verse earlier. Paul calls for humility, gentleness, and patience. And he follows this with the words, \u201cBear with one another in love\u201d<\/strong> (Ephesians 4:2; LUT). I love Luther’s translation here. Sometimes we simply\u00a0must\u00a0put up with\u00a0each other, because\u00a0we are all difficult in some ways. Unfortunately, these words have\u00a0very negative\u00a0connotations in German. Yet they come from the\u00a0words\u00a0\u201cbear\u201d and \u201chold.\u201d We should bear with one another in love. What does this kind of love look like in practice?<\/p>\n A speaker once offered a definition of love that seemed unusual at first glance:<\/strong> He referred to Genesis 4:1: \u201cAnd Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived…\u201d Knowing here refers to sexuality. But there is more to it than that: it implies a deep spiritual (and physical) union. A unity that comes with marriage.<\/p>\n Couples who are newly married do not know each other\u00a0nearly as well as\u00a0those who have spent decades together. Getting to know each other is a lifelong process. He defined love as actively and consciously shaping this process,\u00a0making an effort\u00a0to understand the other person, and continuing to explore them. A definition of love How we can\u00a0maintain\u00a0unity in spirit By Anja Scholl\u00a0 Violins, pianos, timpani, and trumpets. They all have a unique sound. We may like some instruments more than others. And when they all sound at the same time, it can quickly become chaotic. But when they form harmonies, many voices become […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1392],"tags":[2227,3512],"class_list":["post-20287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-devotional","tag-erlebt-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nI believe that this definition can also be applied to platonic relationships. We often only see the conflicts or weaknesses in others. Instead, we could try to understand each other better. We can try to understand why a certain topic triggers so much emotion in the other person (and in ourselves!). Conflicts are not always about the actual discussion. Sometimes they are rooted in old, deep wounds or current difficult life circumstances\u2014things we are unaware of. When we strive to understand each other and get to know each other better, frustration can turn into compassion, and we begin to support each other.\u00a0<\/strong>So,\u00a0let’s\u00a0make an effort\u00a0to explore each other, and we will notice that we will sound more harmonious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"