By David ReayWednesday 16 Sep 2015LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read John 17:20-26
20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!
25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” (NLT)
Those who follow Jesus believe in such a thing as the Trinity. God is one and yet there are three persons in that oneness. Almost impossible to grasp with our minds. And yet we need not let such intellectual complexity blind us to a profound reality: the fact that the love that exists within this Trinity overflows and is meant to shape the way we relate to one another.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are full of love for one another. Such is the nature of that love that it cannot be limited to the Trinity. It spills out. Jesus here prays that something of the Triune love infects those whom he loves and for whom he prays.
In his last hours on earth, Jesus doesn’t pray that his followers work hard, study diligently, and make grand plans to achieve earthly power. None of those things may be wrong in themselves, but Jesus’ prayer is that we share something of the life and love of the Trinity.
In all our good and legitimate responses to the commands and example of Jesus, let’s not forget that what seems to give him greatest delight is that his people love one another and that the watching and needy world catches something of that love and thus catches something of the nature of God himself.
Blessings
David Reay