20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” (John 17:20-21 NLT)
Jesus is praying. He is praying for his disciples. And he is praying for all those who will ever believe in him through their message. He’s praying that we’d all be one. That we’d be in (them) so that the world will believe God sent him. I read it over and over, this message of unity, of God’s glory and the glory of His Son. I don’t know that I ever read these verses before. I don’t remember his desire in these words, that we’d be one so the world would believe.
Broken, messy believer lives. I’ve seen the Body of Christ do wonderful things in His name. I’ve seen loving hearts unite in tragedy. But I scratch my head over the division of the day-to-day. Jesus still gets the glory in these things. He still gets the glory when I chose to believe the best in another, even when doubt sits on my shoulders and tries to convince me otherwise–when I struggle with what I think is true in another, but only God knows that other’s heart.
How do I not see His love and attention to detail in the careful knitting of a heart in the womb–grown now as a neighbor, sister/brother-in-Christ, or a stranger with a bad day? How does my witness convince the world of His love and unity when even within the same (bloodline, neighborhood, church) we live divided? Wounded or jaded, it’s sometimes easier to see another as an enemy rather than your beloved.
3 Take control of what I say, O Lord,
and guard my lips.
4 Don’t let me drift toward evil
or take part in acts of wickedness.
Don’t let me share in the delicacies
of those who do wrong. Psalm 141:3-4
Lord, I pray for the unity you desire.
Courtney (66books365)
Sixty-six books in a year 