The Common Factor that Unites Humanity

We tend to spend the time outside of our jobs with like-minded people. We might become members of literary clubs or hobby groups. Or maybe volunteer with service organizations that match our interests and talents. Some people join professional associations or neighborhood consumer co-ops. Others may get involved with fundraisers for causes close to their heart. Whatever the group or activity, we gravitate toward people with whom we have something in common. We find a sense of unity there.

No group will attract all people. The person with tone deafness will not seek to join a choir. A chess club will not interest a two-year-old. Someone with acrophobia will not search the Web for the nearest group of mountain climbers. A Spanish club would not attract members of an Indigenous African tribe that resists outside influence. We all have our own set of interests.

Groups unite their members, but some may exclude certain people by either nature or design. A democratic campaign would not likely accept republican volunteers. Sororities and fraternities are not open to the opposite gender. Only the top athletes can become members of an Olympic team. A professional teachers’ organization offers nothing for doctors. Mensa extends invites only to people who score above the 98^th percentile on a standard test of intelligence. Sometimes we understand the exclusions; sometimes they cause us to feel inferior or left out.

Although unity is found within groups, when matched against groups with opposite goals it can expose divisions ranging from uncomfortable feelings to violent actions. I have heard some less-than-kind words exchanged between members of hiking groups and horse riding clubs when they share the same trails—especially in the rainy season. PETA and people with zoo memberships are not the chummiest with each other. Pro-life and pro-choice groups find little common ground but much that ignites rage. The same goes for gun control groups and the NRA. Two warm glows of like-mindedness can explode in a fireball when passionate objectives clash.

By joining others around common interests, we enjoy islands of unity. But that’s all they are—small bits of togetherness in a huge and splintered world. They will never lead to the worldwide oneness we sing about, march toward, or long for. For that kind of unity to be possible, we would all need to share one common factor.

In math, a factor is a whole number that divides into another number evenly. Three is a factor of six because it divides into it exactly two times. Three is also a factor of twenty-one because it divides evenly into it seven times. Since three is a factor of both six and twenty-one, it is a common factor of both numbers. Every number has its own unique set of factors that make it different from every other number. But there is one—and only one—common factor for all numbers. The number one will divide evenly into every other number.

Like numbers, people share one common factor, and it is also a “one”: Every single person is created by the one—and only one—true God. “There is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6). That truth has the potential to unite us. If everyone chose to join God’s group—not a denomination or a church, but his spiritual family—they would also be connected to everyone else in a common bond. And he has made that possible.

God loves each of us so much that he sacrificed the life of his Son, Jesus, to provide the way for us to be united to him. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He excludes no one from his eternal family—no nationality, ethnicity, occupation, age, personality, political persuasion, economic level. All are invited into a relationship with him through Jesus. No one has reason to ever feel left out or inferior.

Sadly, not everyone will recognize God as their Creator and accept his invitation. But all who do and live according to his Word will have the same focus: to live for God rather than for themselves. Then they will experience the harmony that rises above all of our differences—because they will have embraced the common factor of humanity.

Scripture quotations are from NIV.

Feature photo by BJN on FreeImages