When I was 10 years old, my parents bought me a bicycle. When I was a kid—way back in the nineties—having a bike was essential. It meant freedom to roam the neighborhood on summer days in the form of two wheels. It was the difference between getting to my friend’s house on the other side of the park in five minutes or a half hour. Most important, it was vital to being cool.
Unfortunately, this bike was anything but cool.
My new bike came from the thrift store, and with only one gear, no pegs, or any other accessories, it had virtually no chance of elevating my profile. It was silver, with a bit of an oblong shape, being more long than tall. Worst of all, my dad decided the monstrosity needed a new paint job. Racing stripes? Maybe some sweet decals? Nope. He decided to paint it solid yellow; I’m talking Big Bird-yellow.
Like I said, it was anything but cool. Every time I pulled that thing out and starting riding around, I could hear chuckles from both sides of the road. Frankly, it was well deserved. I knew I needed a new bike. Thankfully, at some point, the eyesore began to disintegrate, starting with one of the spokes.
When a bicycle is in top shape, every spoke is connected to the hub in the center of the wheel and distributed evenly out to the rim. This allows the wheel to function perfectly, every part doing its job. One disconnected spoke becomes a barrier to proper performance. Have you ever ridden a bicycle with a broken spoke? It looks bad and sounds worse.
Ca-chink. Ca-chink.
For a bike to work properly, every spoke must stay connected to the hub.
What do you think when you hear the word “unity” in the context of spirituality? Perhaps you associate it with compromise. In order to be united spiritually, we have to give up some portion of our beliefs, right? This happened in many cases throughout history. The early Christian church lost the seventh-day Sabbath and gained the theology of the immortal soul through slow and subtle compromise. We know that the mistakes of the past will be repeated. Maybe you saw the video of Bishop Tony Palmer’s speech at a recent convention for high-ranking Pentecostal leaders? The prophetic clock is ticking.
Unity itself is not a bad thing. In fact, it is essential for God’s people. Near the end of the book of John, Jesus delivers some final words to His disciples before being betrayed and handed over for execution. He has limited time to review the essentials with His closest friends, the men charged with spreading the gospel worldwide. After giving them guidance in John 14-16, Jesus prays specifically for His followers. Near the end of the prayer He prays, “that they may be one. . . . Then the world will know that you sent me” (John 17:22, 23).
Just a few verses earlier (verse 17) Jesus also prays that the disciples would be sanctified by truth.
Real Christian unity is not achieved through compromise. Rather, it is based entirely on the truth. Through “truth” we are to be unified “so that the world will know.”
So what exactly is truth? Ellen White made this simple yet profound statement: “Hanging upon the cross Christ was the gospel.”* A proper understanding and study of any part of God’s Word—truth—always leads to the truth: Jesus.
Think about your beliefs and the way you discuss or share them with others. Whether the Sabbath, women’s ordination, or prophecy, we must keep Jesus in the center as the supreme focus. When we separate Jesus from doctrine—even subconsciously—we lose our effectiveness and fail to achieve biblically based unity.
Apart from Jesus, any belief—no matter how true—will function no better than a bicycle spoke that is disconnected from the hub.
* The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Ellen White Comments, vol. 6, p. 1113.
