Unity

This morning I got lost in John 17. In this passage Jesus is praying for you! He says, that the hour has come, He had finished the work the Father gave Him to do. That fascinates me, Jesus was on earth just a normal man, like you and me, He couldn‘t do everything, He was simply doing the work the Father entrusted Him to do, fulfilling God’s perfect plan.  He invested into the twelve and in John 17 He prays for them, in verse 9: I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, so that they may be one as we are one. So that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. Protect them, sanctify them by the TRUTH, Your Word is truth. In verse 20 Jesus is praying for those who will believe in Him through their messsage, that ALL OF THEM MAY BE ONE, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me so that they may be brought to complete unity.

I find this message extremely important. Imagine you would know that your life is coming to an end. Your last words would be probably a summary of what you have learned throughout your life, something from what the next generations could profit, maybe some warning or advice.  

Imagine Jesus knowing what is ahead of Him and despite of that He is asking the Father to glorify Him only that He might be able to glorify the Father in exchange.  And then He prays for His disciples, He is giving the finished work back to the Father. He is asking for protection, safety, joy and satisfaction through the Word. The first thing He prays for ALL believers is that they may be one, just as Jesus is in the Father and Father in Him. Jesus says: „I in them and you in me, I want them to be where I am.“ These were the last words of Jesus on earth. Pleading for unity of all Christians with Him and through Him with the Father.

Imagine each believer being in a complete unity with Jesus. We would be unstoppable, unlimited, undefeatable, walking in perfect love, power and joy constantly. Would there be so much disagreement, discussion and misunderstanding in the body of Christ? We cannot change others, we cannot really persuade them to believe what we believe in. Our ONLY responsibility is to REMAIN IN HIM, as He remains in us. (John 15:4) Jesus didn’t pray for the whole world, He prayed for those that the Father entrusted Him. Do we pray on regular basis for those God entrusted us? For our families, friends, colleaques? For protection, joy, truth and unity? Do we fight for ourselves to remain in Him?

Because the evil one comes with so many distractions, that tempt us to look in different directions, they are the cause of the division in the body of Christ! The devil will do anything to distract us from the most important task of our lives – to seek His will and remain in Him. God knows what He is doing, He can orchestrate all of us to lead us into His perfect will. He orchestrates the whole universe, galaxies, He sets each star on ist orbit, He knows the exact position of every planet all the time and He know the exact position of every human heart on earth as well. Of course He can lead us into complete unity, if we just remain in Him.