The world is watching us, everyday as we interact with those yet to embrace Christ, they watch us. They want to see if there is any real change in our life as we claim or are we just as they are. They are watching because they know it is easy to pretend in Church for a few hours but what about the rest of the week when we are going about our everyday life? Will that change be evident?
God knew this and thus there are several things in the New Testament that when we do will act as a signpost to the un believer to prove to them that indeed there is change in our life and God is real.
John 17:20-21
20 “I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message, 21 that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me.
Jesus made a prayer not just for the 12 disciples but for all those who would ever believe. His prayer was that just like He and the father are one, all those who ever believe would also be one. That we would be united because where there is unity God himself commands a blessing. The sad thing is this, because of the doctrines of men, we have divided ourselves into sects and denominations and we focus on the things that divide us instead of Christ who unites us. We have set up our own little clubs and kingdoms.
Our unity demonstrates and proves to the world that God sent Christ and that also that God has loved the world. Our unity is a demonstration of His love.
This one thought amazes me, Christ had an opportunity to pray for all believers and the thing he chose to pray for is that we would be united. He understood the importance of unity so much so that he made a special prayer for it but the sad thing is I don’t think we see the importance of it. Unity not just with those who go to the church you go to (that is also hard for some of us) but unity among all those who confess Christ.
This is the kind of unity that was experienced in the book of Acts.
Acts 4:32 (AMP)
32 Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one [of them] claimed that anything belonging to him was [exclusively] his own, but everything was common property and for the use of all.
Unity of purpose, one heart and soul, seeing the same thing and proclaiming the same message and submitting to the same Lord. The kind of unity that makes the body operate as one though it’s made up of different parts.
