“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me…”
John 17:20-23
I haven’t really thought too much about how making His Name our Strong Tower and being sanctified by The Truth while remaining in the world is connected with the unity of believers.
But it makes sense.
Remembering that unity does not mean uniformity, I have been pondering the different ways we all fill our brains with stuff. This, of course, is a good thing as most of us aren’t called to read the Bible all day. Even our pastor, like he said yesterday, doesn’t live in a closet between Sundays. We all live in a real world. And we have to think about the things He’s called us to. Teaching, construction, business, retail, engineering, art, health care, home management, social services, parenting. All these things are such beautiful expressions of our multi-faceted, infinite God. There is no need for uniformity in this.
However, as Believers, something has to bind us in unity. Oh thank the good goodness we have His Spirit. But praise Him we also have His Word. Without it we will always be confused.
If the main way the world sees us as His is our unity and love for each other, whenever those things are out of whack, we had best get our tails in the Word. The Truth.
Of course this is difficult. I can be in Proverbs and you could be in Revelations. These are very different books. But the same Spirit is in those Words. That is the Spirit with which we need to connect for unity and love.
We can remember certain things:
There are rib issues and spine issues. We do not have to have uniformity in the ribs. And trying to force uniformity on those issues will lead to resentment and disunity.
We are always called to love each other.
Pride is never okay with God. It shouldn’t be okay with us.
The enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion. That is in the Bible. We need to pray for each other and protect each other.
If we have something against our brother or sister, we need to go to them.
Idolatry always leads to captivity. Love God more than you love anything else. He’s jealous for us and that jealousy protects us. It is for our good.
If we are not believing God we will take matters into our own hands. Unbelief leads to bad things. Ask me how I know.
Legalism will choke the life out of us and His Spirit among us. Let’s depend on His grace even as we are obedient in what His Word tells us to do and the ways He’s individually leading us.
If we are not praying, we are not syncing up with Him. And you know what I mean by praying. Not just telling Him what we’d like Him to do. But pouring out our hearts, then making sure we don’t get up from our knees until we have surrendered those plans and can honestly conclude, “Not my will, but Yours.”
We will not see our blind spots without community. We need to listen to the feedback we give each other in love.
In love.
I am not some sage here. I have learned pretty much all of these things the hard way. You probably have, too. We’re gonna mess them up. But let’s give some grace, friends. The world is hard enough on all of us. Let’s have some honest love and mercy and patience and kindness and joy and gentleness and humility and protection and trust and hope and perseverance and considering others as better than ourselves in our relationships as Believers.
Our unity and His glory is at stake.