In the New Testament, there is a passage of scripture which has been ringing aloud to me lately. I'm not sure whether its the state of the world or what. that scripture says:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. - Ephesians 4:13

The key word that impressed me in this scripture is Unity. The word unity denotes a oneness. The words unity and and oneness are used many times throughout the scriptures. The Savior spoke very direct on this saying, “If ye are not one, ye are not mine”. In the Book of Mormon, Alma had just finished baptizing many at the waters of Mormon. The prophet Alma commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.



What a wonderful image this paints in our minds. Just as strands of thread can skillfully be spun into a beautiful tapestry, so a Ward is spun into a family of saints with the proper tools required to carry out this task. With those who have been called in various ward callings, we can see how we all fit into this great tapestry and how we make the tapestry even more beautiful.

I remember a story which illustrates this principle: 

A boy was extended an invitation to visit his uncle who was a lumberjack up in the Northwest. … [As he arrived] his uncle met him at the train depot, and as the two pursued their way to the lumber camp, the boy was impressed by the enormous size of the trees on all around. There was a gigantic tree which he observed standing all alone on the top of a small hill. The boy, full of awe, called out excitedly to his uncle, ‘look at that big tree! It will make a lot of good lumber, won’t it?’ The uncle slowly shook his head, then replied, ‘No, son, that tree will not make a lot of good lumber. It might make a lot of lumber but not a lot of good lumber. When a tree grows off by itself, too many branches grow on it. Those branches produce knots when the tree is cut into lumber. The best lumber comes from trees that grow together in groves. The trees also grow taller and straighter when they grow together.

 It is so with people. We become better individuals, more useful timber when we grow together rather than alone. As we grow in unity, we become much closer friends and are more willing to sacrifice on behalf of our friends.

C.S. Lewis stated this principle in his book ‘The Four Loaves’ - "Christ, who said to the disciples 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' can truly say to every group of Christian friends 'You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.' The Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by Friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good Friendship, increased by Him through the Friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as for revealing. At this feast it is He who has spread the board and it is He who has chosen the guests. It is He, we may dare to hope, who sometimes does, and always should, preside." 

Respect is another expression of ourselves in this unity – Respect is a testimony of our membership in the human family. It acknowledges our common humanity and shows our reverence for children of God. The gospel teaches us that we are to hold the same esteem for others that we hold for ourselves. Acting disrespectfully suggests we do not esteem the other person as ourselves. For example, prejudice is a result of disrespect for our fellowman. We cannot participate in attitudes of prejudice without distancing ourselves from others. True respect, then, comes as we develop our ability to love our brothers and sisters as ourselves. Gossip, another everyday form of disrespect, is incompatible with love. What we say about people in their absence should be what we would say to them, with love, if they were present.

Unity is indeed the binding mortar. The thing that holds our concrete lives together. Without the mortar, our lives can become unsteady and crumble with even the least tremor of hatred, mistrust, murmuring, gossiping, etc. and to bring the analogy full circle, our Savior Jesus Christ can be thought of the Master Masonry professional. It is He, who can take our lives and carefully bind them together with the unifying gospel.



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