Unity is essential for the survival of any relationship, family, organization or country. Yet it is hard to gain and easy to lose. This is seen in a City family who sold up and moved west to raise cattle. However, they could not agree on their cattle brand. So, they ended up branding their cattle the “CrazyR-Lazy5-BarM-RailX”. The problem was that none of the cattle survived the branding.

Paul lays out his peace plan pillars in Philippians 2:1-2.

(ESV) — 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  

For us to be united into one mind and love Paul highlights four pillars in verse 1.

• 1^st, “encouragement in Christ”. This means looking for opportunities to let encouragement flow out from us because of the relationship we have with Christ.
• 2^nd, “comfort from love”. While rebuking sin it is
  possible to comfort the sinner from a position of love.
• 3^rd, “participation in the Spirit” happens when we are led not by the flesh but by the Holy Spirit. This results in visible fruit.
• 4^th, “affection and sympathy”. This is when we allow the Spirit to produce concern for a hurting member of God’s family.

Friend, it requires a collective of humble hearts to produce unity. Only when everyone humbly acknowledges that they are not smarter than the group can Christ’s unified wisdom  synergistically rise to the top.