Okay, let me back up. For those of you
who don't know what Seven is, it's a collective group of seven
churches coming together to fast one day a week for seven weeks.
During these gatherings we come together to pray for different needs
and parts of our city. This week was the last week of the official
gatherings, but certainly not the end of our prayers for Portland and
its people.
The scripture focus for tonight was
John 17. This passage is powerful as it focuses on Jesus praying for
his peoples and for all believers, and those who would come to know
Him. I could go on and on about the awesome words that were said
(because there were so many), but what really resonated with me was
the last part of the message that was shared through this verse:
“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.” John 17: 20-21
What was first mentioned was the
obvious importance of the word “one” in this passage. Here,
Christ calls attention to the need for all who believe to be one,
just as He and the Father are. However, what was fascinating to me,
was the insight that the pastor from Grace Bible Church (I believe)
gave. He spoke on the obvious meaning of the word “one” in this
context, but cautioned us to not confuse unity, as is seen in this
context, with uniformity.
He said that often times we seem to
look for unity, but we settle for uniformity. Basically, what this
means is that we try so hard to come together around a common goal,
but often times we are overcome by the need to be uniform and so
identical, as opposed to coming together from different walks of life
around a common goal that we are unified for. As Christians, we are
all different, and God has created us that way, but our central
belief that Christ died and was resurrected because God so loved the
world is something that we are unified in. We are not caught in
uniformity, and if we were, we wouldn't have the stories that God has
given us. But we do; we have different stories of how God came into
our lives and changed us from the inside out.
We love unity, not uniformity.
The other huge part of what he shared
focused on what words he thought perhaps play a more important role
than the word “one.” The words he brought to light were “just
as,” and “so that.” Here's the verse again.
“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.”
He spoke about how our lives need to be
in unity just as the Father and Jesus are unity, so that the world
will believe that He is the Son of God being proclaimed to the world
through us.
We need to live our lives just as Jesus
would, so that the world may come to know Him and come to know the
love and unity that cannot exist apart from Him.
This is our responsibility. We are
called to a purpose, to live on mission, and to love the world,
regardless of if that love is returned.
Be encouraged, and step out in faith.
You will not be disappointed with the Lord on your side.
Fight the good fight, run the race.
In Christ,
Lilia
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