Can we even be what Jesus prayed for?

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

John 17:11

The great prayer of Jesus as He prepared to go to Calvary to fulfill His great purpose was for God the Father to keep His followers together in unity. He prayed this specifically for His earthly disciples (John 17:9). He would repeat this same request not only for His immediate eleven disciples, but also for the generations of Christians to follow (John 17:20-21). That means Jesus wants current Christians to demonstrate unity. Twice Jesus asked the Father to unify His followers. He wanted His people to experience the kind of perfect agreement, love, and submission He knew with the Father.

Why did Jesus want this for us? An answer is clear later in the prayer: “so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as You loved me.” (John 17:23) Unity in the Body of Christ is meant to show a lost world the incredible reconciling love of God. We are to be together to show God’s love. We are to be one in the Father’s love to draw others to repent of sins, follow Jesus, and be one in the Father’s love.

Sadly, Christians lose this perspective and have to be reminded all the time. The immediate disciples scattered in fear when Jesus was tried and crucified. It took a resurrection to unite them. And today we need to get a sense of the power of our Lord and STOP FIGHTING. I see us lose this perspective profoundly every 24 months here in America. We look to the world, not to Jesus, and we fight with one another. The worthless reason we sacrifice the passionate desire Jesus begged the Father to give us? Petty human politics. Yep… every election cycle, like clockwork, we decide human power is more immediately important than the sovereign love of the Father to unite us. Fights erupt. It is ugly.

This week I was saddened on social media to see Christians I love fighting and dividing and saying the nastiest, most self-righteous things. They were dividing over a brief cultural moment known as a governor’s election in the state of Kansas. Think about how insignificant that is in the light of the gospel! Jesus offers us a focus on the eternal unity of the Godhead for ETERNITY! Instead we focus on the next 48 months of an insignificant midwestern’s state occupant of an office in minuscule Topeka, Kansas. Really? C’mon people! Get it together. Jesus is asking us to unify around Him, not a political party! Jesus has to be shaking His head! God help us to be one!