So the World Will Know

Jesus prayed for me! I can’t get over that. Before he even died for me, he prayed for me. And since these are some of his last words before going to the cross, I want to pay very close attention to what it is he prayed. “My prayer is not for them [the disciples] 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. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-22

How is this possible “that all of them may be one,” and “be brought to complete unity”? We are all so different – even within a same culture let alone between cultures. Is it possible to agree on anything let alone ‘complete’ unity? Yet, this is so very important to Jesus that it is part of his prayer. What is his reason for this? “…to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Being of one mine and in complete unity lets the world know that God loves them!

It causes me to ponder… The one thing that is most important to Jesus is that everyone know that he was sent by God and that God loves them. And the way to accomplish this is to “be one” and “be brought to complete unity”. If there is an organized Christian church out there that has figured this out, I haven’t heard of it or been to it yet. Instead, we fight and split – the very opposite of what Jesus wants for us. Why do we do this? Is it important to us to be the church Jesus himself has called us to be? Or do we have other goals?

First, I need to go back and figure out what it means to be one and to be unified. “… that they may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” Jesus was completely and totally yielded to his Father. The purpose was to let everyone know that they are loved by God and that God wants an ongoing relationship with us. The “Fall” back in the Garden of Eden led to selfish behaviors, to desire for independence, power, and control. We are all prone to these behaviors right from birth. But if we accept that Jesus died for our sins – our selfishness – and if we allow ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent after his ascension, he will teach us to love others and to give up our ‘right’ to power and control. He will teach us to work together with unified minds with the common purpose of the world knowing that Jesus was sent from God to take away the sins of the world and teach the world that God loves them.

I know of a ministry that is so focused on this – teaching others that God loves them – that they are able to work through conflicts and disagreements and come together in love. They have a specific group of people they are trying to reach, and that is their focus. They come from many different denominations and have different beliefs regarding things like whether or not to go to war or how to dress or cut hair. But none of that is their focus. Their focus is totally on bringing this specific group of people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. They share that significant belief – that Jesus is the Christ and that he died for their sins and rose again in victory and that he is coming back to take us to be with him for eternity. They believe that knowing God and inviting him to be part of our lives is essential to this life’s journey. Those things they agree on. And that is what they focus on.

I wonder what even my neighborhood (let alone the world) would be like if everyone who professed to be a Christian would take seriously their spiritual growth, would learn to know the Father through Jesus Christ, and would submit more and more of their selfish behaviors to him. Could we be unified? Could we be one as Jesus and the Father are one? Could we love to the point of being willing to give up our very lives for the sake of others?

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them.” John 17:25-26 Jesus is praying for God’s love to be in us. Jesus was willing to suffer the humiliation of death on the cross to make sure that we understood God’s love. If we really get this, how much God loves us, we are able to give up our ‘rights’ in this world and become loving and caring people to each other.

I can’t change others, but I can change me. I can submit my will – my selfish will – to God and let him fill me with his Spirit of love and unity. When I feel my ‘dander’ rising, I can stop and look at whether or not I am being selfish or trying to control others with my power over them, and I can invite God to fill me with his Spirit of love and unity and then, and only then, begin to speak to the situation. I can live out the love that God has so freely and completely given me. And when I fail, I can humble myself and ask for forgiveness from God and from the person(s) I failed.

I can begin in my marriage, with my family, with those I work with, and extend to my community and any others I come in contact with. And if there are other like-minded people around, those interested in demonstrating and extending God’s love to this world, maybe we can gather and encourage each other. And then maybe the light will grow brighter because of the synergistic effect and others who walk by will see it and be attracted to it and want to be part of it.

I want to live out Christ’s love for me… “so the world will know”!