Since the Inauguration of our new President on January 20, there has been a lot of talk about unifying the country. So how do we achieve unity? This is the topic of this month’s reflection.
At the end of His prayer in the garden on the night He was betrayed, Jesus said this, “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they (meaning us believers) know you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and I myself may be in them” (John 17:25-26).
It was the love of the Father that sustained Jesus throughout His life on earth. And in His darkest hour, He was asking God, the Father, to fill His disciples (both then and now) with that same sustaining love.
On February 7 we heard a great sermon by Rev. Ray Ammons on Matthew 22: 34-40 in which a pharisee asks Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the Jewish law. Many suspect that his motive for asking was not to learn the truth but to “trip” Jesus up and “prove” that He was a charlatan. Instead, he got the truth!
Jesus replied, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘ Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” (Mt. 22: 37-39).
So, this is my point: We can not experience true unity in the faith without God’s love in our hearts. If you don’t have love, you don’t have unity; you have tyranny! And unity is not uniformity. It is diverse people united in purpose – to love God and others. So, may God grant you His love that you may be one with Jesus, just as He is one with the Father. Now that’s true unity!
Shalom.