Friday, September 4, 2009

Unity

I wonder what would happen if the body of Christ saturated themselves with Jesus' prayer recorded in John 17.
Jesus describes unity in this passage.

We think we have to be united in our theology and doctrine, but man's doctrine divides, and the body of Christ will never be united in our interpretation of scripture. We will never agree on politics, or parenting, or how to pray.

Unity is all about Jesus being in God and God being in Jesus and us being in them and them being in us.
Jesus says it this way. He PRAYS it this way.

"...all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them."

"...keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are."

"..I pray for those who will believe in Me...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one;
I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me..."

"...I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I read His words over and over.
I realize that we, His body, will never be united in our differences.
Our unity will come only from being in God and Jesus and receiving their glory.
Our unity will come as we hear the name of God declared through Christ Jesus,
so that the same love with which God loves Jesus may be in us.
I bask in the thought.
I am inside Jesus, and God our Father loves me with the same kind of love He loves Jesus.
This is our unity.
Their love for each other and for us inside each other makes us one.
Just as their love makes them one
so their love makes us one.
God gave Jesus glory and now He gives it to you and to me,
and that glory makes us one.

This was the prayer He prayed the night before He died.
His prayer is eternal. It has never stopped being heard.
God will answer it because the price has been paid,
and now, we too, can be one with God.

We get all bent out of shape and think unity would be possible if everyone agreed with each other. But if that were the case, we'd be building another tower of Babel, communicating perfectly where 'to place the next block', trying to reach God in our way and our own means.

And here, it's so simple. We have to humble ourselves and crawl inside the relationship that is already established. We crawl inside Jesus, and have His relationship with God His Father.
We crawl inside God and have His relationship with Jesus.
We quiet ourselves and move over so others can be there too.
And then we have unity.
We are one.

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