Zambia Hunt

A tragic lesson about focus emerges from the story of Eastern Airlines Flight 401. Flight 401 was scheduled from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. Shortly before midnight on December 29, 1972, the Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar crashed into the Florida Everglades. All 3 cockpit crew members, two of the 10 flight attendants, and 96 of the 163 passengers were killed. The FAA investigation into the crash revealed that the cockpit crew became so fixated on a faulty indicator light that they lost sight of their primary task – flying the plane. Their distraction led to a devastating crash in the Florida Everglades.

How easily we can lose sight of what truly matters.

Beyond Surface-Level Unity

Many confuse unity with uniformity – that superficial sameness that only runs skin deep. You might as well try to create unity by tying two cats together by their tails and throwing them over a clothesline. You’ll certainly have union, but you won’t have unity! As D.L. Moody wisely noted in his Anecdotes, “There are two ways of being unified – one is to be frozen together, and the other is to be melted together. What Christians need is to be united in love, and then they may expect to have power.”

Unity in the Upper Room

When we look at Acts 1:12-26, we discover an extraordinary gathering that exemplified this kind of deep unity. Picture the scene in the upper room: eleven disciples from vastly different backgrounds – fishermen rubbing shoulders with former tax collectors and political activists. Alongside them stood a group of devoted women (Luke 8:1-3), Mary the mother of Jesus (Mark 3:32-35), and even Jesus’s half-brothers who had previously been skeptics (Matthew 13:55, John 7:5). Despite their differences, they found profound unity in their shared experience of the risen Christ, their common anticipation of His power and return, and their collective passion for fulfilling God’s will.

Their unity wasn’t theoretical – it manifested in tangible ways. They persisted in prayer together (Acts 1:14), worshiped with great joy (Luke 24:52), and maintained a constant presence in the temple, praising and blessing God (Luke 24:53). As Paul would later write, “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

When Unity Is Broken

The absence of Judas from this unified gathering tells its own cautionary tale. Here was someone who seemed to have it all – he walked the walk, talked the talk, participated in ministry, and held a trusted position. Yet beneath the surface, he served his own agenda. When his personal ambitions went unfulfilled, he traded fellowship and service to the Messiah for thirty pieces of silver.

Finding Our Focus

Like Flight 401’s crew, we too can become distracted by our own “$0.50 light bulbs” while our greater purpose veers off course. True unity grows from a shared commitment to God’s purpose, a willing alignment with Scripture, and complete dependence on God through prayer. It’s not about perfect agreement on every detail but about hearts united in pursuing God’s calling.

The Choice Before Us

The question isn’t whether you’re part of a group, but whether you’re truly united with other believers in purpose. Are you in the “upper room,” sharing a passion for God’s purpose? Or are you allowing lesser things to divide and distract?

Unity isn’t manufactured through external conformity. It emerges organically when believers focus together on something greater than themselves – the Lord Jesus Christ. When we align our hearts with the scriptures, embrace God’s purpose, set aside our personal agendas, and commit to moving forward together in faith, we create space for the kind of unity that transformed that first church – and can transform our churches today.