We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk.
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JOHN 17:20-26 (NRSV)
“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, 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. The glory that You have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that those also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory, which You have given me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know You, but I know You, and these know that You have sent Me. I made Your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them and I in them.”
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
This passage brings two conflicting emotions to me each time I read it. Firstly, there is one of inspired awe and wonder. Jesus is praying specifically for us – those who will believe in me through their (first disciples) word (vs 20). We are included in His prayer! But this almost sets up the second emotion which is one of overwhelming humility. Do you catch the awesomeness of Jesus’ prayer? He asks His Father that they (we) may all be one (vs 21). This sense of oneness is a unity with each other (fellow disciples) AND with God and His son, Jesus. As you begin to think of the amazing relationship into which we have been invited, there is a practical outworking of this that can’t help but be visible. This gift of God’s love has been given to us through Christ and is expressed in love for each other. And here is the clincher! "That they may be completely one, so that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them…" (vs 23). The authenticity of the Gospel is revealed in the quality of our love for each other. Ouch! How often we fail to express the amazing sacrificial love of God in our relationships with each other! Pettiness, selfishness, comfort, ease, busyness … all can lead us to distort a profound knowledge of God through his love. Our integrity as children of God rests on the expression of God’s love in us and through us to those about us. All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ (II Cor 5:18 NRSV). This is indeed an amazing journey. What a privilege!
PRAYER
Father, we confess that sometimes our love for You and each other has turned inward and made us less that You have created us to be. Please forgive us. We offer ourselves unreservedly to You, that Your love may be in us and expressed through us to a world that is yet to know You. Grant to us this day the joy of knowing You in ever deepening ways, for I pray this is the name of Your Son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Rev Dr Bruce G Allder, Senior Lecturer in Liturgy, Pastoral Theology and Practice