I’ve mentioned before that this year I’ve added a “bonus reading” to my morning plan, Dane Ortlund’s devotional on the Psalms, In the Lord I Take Refuge. This morning, his thoughts on Psalm 133 have given me something to chew on.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
       when brothers dwell in unity!     (Psalm 133:1 ESV)

Pretty well-known verse. Pretty amazing assertion of what is good and pleasant in the eyes of God, “for there the LORD has commanded the blessing” (v.3b).

But, pretty elusive, if we’re honest with ourselves. For, according to Ortlund, the joy of “real unity” is “to know and to be known by others, to enjoy a shared heart in some endeavor, to sense the deep resonance of oneness that comes from loving and being loved . . . when all divisiveness, strife, and harsh agreement” melt away.

Not unity because there is unanimity — complete agreement on everything. Nor unity as a facade for surface level uniformity — where our oneness is a “mile wide” only because we refuse to go beyond “an inch deep” with others. But unity which is founded upon our union with Christ, so that just as we abide in Him in oneness, we too abide with our brothers and sisters in oneness. As Ortlund puts it, a “unity that comes from the Lord — that is, not from pursuing unity itself but from pursuing God.”

Ortlund then quotes Tozer:

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So, one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. (The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer)

As we grow in maturity, being conformed to the likeness of Christ — becoming more like Jesus — shouldn’t we also be growing in the freedom of openly and transparently and safely being comfortable with the uniqueness of one another?

More authentic? More gracious? More in tune?

I’m thinkin’ . . .

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.