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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman The
Lens Of Life While on earth, did
Jesus ever have an unanswered or a delayed answer to a prayer?
Read John 17:20 and 21.
"My
prayer is not for them [the apostles] alone. I pray also for those who
will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one,
Father, just as you 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." Note the unified
relationship between God the Father and Jesus His Son.
God the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in God His Father.
Jesus prayed that such unity would exist in His people so the world
would know that God had sent Him into the world.
Has Jesus' prayer for unity ever been answered? I
don't think so. Concerning Christian
unity, I refer you to 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul compared church, the
Body of Christ, to a human body where body parts are united to function
together for the health and maturity of the body.
Generally speaking, I don't see church being healthy, mature and
unified, and that due to its disabling fragmentation that inhibits it from
demonstrating that God sent Jesus into the world, as He prayed.
One reason for our
disunity is that we fail to develop healthy personal relationships with
those to whom Jesus has placed us alongside in His earthly body.
It is, then, easy to allow our individual character distinctives to
separate us, preventing the church from effectively accomplishing God's
will. We all come to the
ecclesiastical table with our various individual distinctives based on who
we inherently are. Who we are
is the lens through which we view all things in life.
Who we are is a product of our genetic makeup, our upbringing and
many cultural influences that in turn form our distinct way of thinking.
So, when we come to the ecclesiastical table we bring with us what
I call presuppositional biases that we've formulated over time, that if
allowed, can separate us from each other. If we want to become
Paul's version of a unified church, it would help if we could cultivate
personal, supportive relationships with those to whom Jesus has placed us
alongside in the Body of Christ. Just
maybe, then, we might discover who each other really is and in the process
find it easier to understand our varied presuppositional biases.
Just maybe we could accept each other better, because we really do
need each other. Inherently speaking,
that is who I am, strongly dislikes divisiveness.
I admit that's one reason why I view 1 Corinthians 12 to be
important. I view it through
my personal lens of life. To
be clear, each of our character traits has its up side and down side.
I may avoid a conflict to preserve unity, but sometimes conflict is
necessary in the process of building unity.
We are all inherently
different. Conflict is common
to humanity. We just have to
accept this human reality and deal with it the best way we can.
Attempting to build personal and supportive relationships, although
difficult, is one way that helps being that unified church.
I am a realist, so I
believe unified perfection won't happen in this lifetime.
I do, however, think we can do better at being a unified church so
we can clearly show the world that God sent Jesus into it.
Jesus' prayer for unity has yet to be answered, but when His Father
sends Him back into the world, it will be answered.
Until then, I pray that we understand church to consist of personal
and supportive relationships whereby we can individually and corporately
accomplish God's will. Some
day we will experience life through the lens of the life of Jesus.
O how nice that will be. Postscript I don't believe unity
implies total tolerance. There
are certain foundational Biblical issues and doctrines that can't be
compromised, and thus, will lead to separation.
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