Christianity
Unity Wins. So Whose Will Prevail?
The longest recorded prayer of the Savior, Jesus Christ, focused like a laser on the importance of unity.
If you haven’t read it recently, it can be found in John chapter 17 in the New Testament.
These intercessory words are the capstone of Jesus’ final hours with His disciples before His death and resurrection. In an upper room dinner setting, he shared intimate thoughts with His followers about love (chapter thirteen), the Holy Spirit (chapters 14 & 16), and the need for dependence on Him like branches to a vine (chapter 15).
But his most poignant words took the form of a prayer to His Heavenly Father. In it He highlighted the need, power, and importance of His followers to be “one”–i.e. strongly united–for world evangelism to take place (John 17:23).
Unity wins.
So whose unity will prevail in our time?
Unusual Messengers
I’ve always been fascinated with the word “holy,” which is used to describe the utter uniqueness or other-worldliness of God. Holiness means that God is “different,” “pure,” and completely “outside the box” of our finite human imagination.
This view of God reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ description of Aslan, the Jesus figure, in the Chronicles of Narnia where Mr. Beaver reminds Susan:
” Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.”
To put it another way, God is very unusual and often does unusual things.
He even uses unusual messengers.
The Permanent Victory of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
Easter time remains one of the most memorable weeks of year for me. When I was young, I enjoyed attending sun-rise services where we awakened the dawn with shouts of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today!”
In 1974, I was privileged to spend Easter in the Holy Land where an early dawn prayer time at Golgotha and a visit to the Empty Tomb stand out as cherished memories.
Twenty years later, I participated in mid-week prayer meetings in our hometown–every day of the week–leading up to Resurrection Day. Good Friday always included a “Walk with the Cross” through town, praying for our friends and neighbors and thanking God for His greatest of gifts. This Good Friday we will walk the cross again for the 25th year in a row.
Easter is special, world-changing, cosmos altering.
It celebrates the permanent victory of Jesus’ death and resurrection.