While Jesus was with his disciples, He could protect them. But now, things are changing. And so He prays: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one.” And the reason he is praying for their protection is important: it is “so that they may be one.”
A little later in this same prayer, He prays specifically that we would be protected from the evil one. Protected, so that they may be one.
The truth is that the evil one wants nothing more than for us not to be one. Because he knows that a house that is divided cannot stand.
I have often said that the devil doesn’t care what churches argue about, just as long as we are arguing.
In the first congregation that I served as a pastor, our leaders argued for quite some time about whether or not we should purchase a new vacuum cleaner. The devil, I am sure, was delighted. Because if we are arguing about something – anything! – then we are not able to give ourselves fully to the task of being the church in the world.
In these moments of triviality, there is a compromised unity in the body, we are not one, which Jesus wants for us. So he prays, “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one.”
What do you feel is one of the greatest areas of attacks against unity in the body of Christ??
Let me know in the comments below:
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