Adam and Eve really ruined it for all of mankind.

In Genesis 3, their rebellion broke the relationship between God and creation, specifically all humans. And ever since then, not only has our relationship with God been in a broken state, but so has our relationship with others.

This brokenness touches every relationship, from friendships to marriages, making unity a difficult thing to achieve or even maintain. However, we don’t just find unity difficult, but we often push it away.

We isolate ourselves, build walls, and push away a sense of unity found in community. We do this because of our natural tendency to be cynical, suspicious, disagree, argue, and set up our own prejudices.

And this is what we see in the Ephesian church between the Jews and Gentiles. Even though the church had Jews that believed in Jesus, they struggled to find unity with the Gentiles who were coming to know Jesus too.

However, the point that Paul was wanting to make to them is that in Christ, we are all united.

It’s through Jesus that we can find unity and peace, both with God and others. Only through a relationship with Jesus can we have healthy relationships with those around us. Only through Jesus can we love our neighbor as ourselves. Only through Jesus can we love our enemy.

The things that naturally separate us and turn us against one another don’t really matter once our hearts are changed. Our backgrounds, color, financial status, preferences – things that make each one of us who we are – can now be celebrated when we love one another without reservation.

If Jesus has brought you from death to life, you see people differently, love people differently, and live in unity differently.