The Junk Drawer: The Middle Ground - Friday
1 Corinthians 1:10
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” (NIV)
There was an interesting TikTok trend in 2023 in which girlfriends, wives, and daughters asked the men in their lives how often they thought about the Roman Empire. The women were surprised with the frequency their male counterparts answered. By October 2023 #romanempire had nearly 2 billion views and women were finding out that many men think about the Roman Empire on a near daily basis. Some of the men had lengthy responses in which they paralleled the rise and fall of the social, political, or religious paradigms of ancient Rome to the modern West.
I will admit that I too am one of these men that thinks about the Roman Empire on a semi-regular basis. I’m sure it’s the history nerd in me. Whether it’s Roman military tactics or the engineering of Roman infrastructure, I’m fascinated. Most recently, I’ve been pondering the significance of the Roman fasces. A fasces consists of a bundle of 12 rods tied together with leather straps. It’s a symbol of power and unity and today depictions of it can be found gracing the architecture of the halls of power throughout all of the Western world. The fasces is a natural metaphor for the strength that comes from unity.
Check out this wonderful illustration of the fasces by The Aesop for Children (Library of Congress):
The Bundle of Sticks (In Unity is Strength)
A certain Father had a family of Sons, who were forever quarreling among themselves. No words he could say did the least good, so he cast about in his mind for some very striking example that should make them see that discord would lead them to misfortune.
One day when the quarreling had been much more violent than usual and each of the Sons was moping in a surly manner, he asked one of them to bring him a bundle of sticks. Then handing the bundle to each of his Sons in turn he told them to try to break it. But although each one tried his best, none was able to do so.
The Father then untied the bundle and gave the sticks to his Sons to break one by one. This they did very easily.
"My Sons," said the Father, "do you not see how certain it is that if you agree with each other and help each other, it will be impossible for your enemies to injure you? But if you are divided among yourselves, you will be no stronger than a single stick in that bundle."
Friday’s Reflection
Roman philosopher Publilius Syrus astutely observed, “Where there is unity there is always victory”. 2 Corinthians 13:11 tells us, “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” Where do you need to strive for unity in your life so that Christ may be magnified? Pray today for the unity of the church and our nation.