By Michael C. Mack
Yesterday afternoon, CNN was reporting about a Fox News crew attacked by Russian military near Kyiv, Ukraine, killing a veteran cameraman and a Ukrainian journalist and severely injuring an American correspondent. The CNN reporter emphasized there is no sense of CNN versus Fox News during these events, and then said she is praying for the Fox News correspondent.
It’s amazing what happens when we are at war and have a common enemy.
Earlier that morning, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the United States Congress and people, and he received a bipartisan standing ovation and support from Congress. We haven’t seen much like this for a long time.
The power of unity can be awe-inspiring . . . and for those of us who follow Christ, it should remind us of our higher calling to oneness.
Have we as Christians—conservative and liberal, instrumental and noninstrumental, independent and denominational, Democrats and Republicans, premillennialists and postmillennialists, etc.—forgotten that we are not each other’s enemies . . . that we all have a common enemy in Satan? Have we been so busy fighting one another that we have lost sight of carrying out our shared (but anything but common) battle plan Jesus gave us, that is, the Great Commission?
We know we are better together. We are smarter together. We are stronger together.
Satan is well-aware. His strategy is to keep us apart. He will unrelentingly attempt to trigger division among us. We must not let him accomplish his pursuit.
We begin by agreeing with Jesus in his unity prayer (John 17:20-23). We must, then, in humility forgive one another and seek forgiveness from one another. Unforgiveness is a monstrous barrier to unity. We must not allow Satan to outwit us. We must not be unaware of his evil schemes (2 Corinthians 2:10-12).
Who do you consider to be on “the other side”? I encourage you to pray for them, just as the CNN reporter prayed for the Fox News correspondent. Pray to God for unity among you. Forgive whatever needs forgiving. Stop considering them to be the enemy but rather view them as an ally, with Satan as the adversary . . . and Jesus as our frontline Leader.
Thanks, Mike. This reminds me of William James’s work, THE MORAL EQUIVALENT OF WAR, in which he ponders why we can’t have the unity and dedication of wartime in times of peace. I guess the answer is, “We just don’t.” Somehow in peacetime it’s hard to feel the danger that we are still in, even when we don’t hear shells exploding or see people falling. But, as you said, we still need to try for unity at all times.