The Glory We’ve Been Given
Welcome to Peniel CrossRoads, where we embrace Jesus’s heart and together live out the call to biblical unity!
One of the most important teachings in the Bible on unity is certainly Jesus’s words to His disciples as they walked from the upper room to Gethsemane. On the night of His betrayal and arrest, Jesus shared one last great teaching with them.
How He was able to focus on others as they marched to Gethsemane, I cannot imagine! But with extraordinary thoughtfulness, Jesus pressed past His own mounting stress to teach His disciples one more time before the cross. We have His words in John 15-17.
On the long walk to the garden, Jesus taught them many things, ending with a prayer. I have always been moved by the fact that Jesus not only prayed for the eleven disciples behind Him but also for us! We know this because in verse 20 we have His prayer recorded. “My prayer is not for them [the eleven] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…”
Jesus does not pray for a long list of things for His future disciples. Indeed, He prays for only one thing; He prays that all of us would be one as He and the Father are one. He prays for our unity!
His prayer was simple and beautiful. Even now at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is praying these same words!
By far the most beautiful part of this prayer is the foundation upon which our unity is based. Jesus says in verse 22. “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.”
When I (Chris) was writing Make Us One, those words challenged me for a couple of years! I did not know what Jesus meant. What is this “glory” we have already received, that already makes us one? I searched the Scriptures for many months, studying the Old Testament glory narratives, but did not really find a clear answer to what Jesus meant by “glory” in John.
In the end, the answer was much simpler than I had made it. The glory that all believers share is the presence of the Holy Spirit! HE is our bond of love and unity. The Spirit is the One who illumines Christ and draws us into the heart of God. The Spirit is the One who stamps Christ’s peace, humility, gentleness, forgiveness, and love onto our new image. HE is the One who shapes us into the likeness of Jesus and molds the church into the image of the Triune God.
PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for the glory that is freely ours by sending us Your Spirit! Make us more forgiving, patient, humble, gentle, and loving. Fill us to overflowing with the glory of Your Presence, as we abide in You…Grant us the faith to receive Your glorious Presence now. In Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. They rejoice in your name all day long; they celebrate your righteousness. For your are their glory and strength…”Psalm 89:15-17a
For Jesus’s Sake,
Chris & Julie