Jesus prayed a lot while he was in His body on earth. We don’t have a lot of His prayers recorded. So you can imagine how precious the few we have would be. Jesus prayed that all His disciples would be united.
““I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:20-21 NKJV)
As we in Canada celebrate the unity of the country, I think about the unity of the body of Christ and unity in general.
Unity is the by-product of unconditional love. It is what happens when God’s Kingdom comes on a community! Any time we move toward unity, it means that we are choosing to love. Although naturally our love is polluted with pride and selfish tendencies.
Unity starts from the individual. If I unite with Christ and allow Christ to live through me, then I am able to love those who are different from me and pray for those who hurt me.
Unity is not uniformity! When United we see each other’s differences and we celebrate them and use them to make the bond stronger!
As a disciple of Jesus, I must always pray and allow Jesus to use me to unite His body. This includes the multitudes who are yet to be added to the body! And continue to love and pray for those who choose not believe at this time. Jesus is available for all to enjoy!