John 17:22-23 (NIV) “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Jesus’ salvation plan included bringing unity among those who would come to know Him as Lord and Savior. He said that it would be through the display of this unity among His followers that the world would know that He was sent by the Father to show them His love. That sounds like a very easy way to tell everyone about Jesus, but it hasn’t exactly worked out that way. We have not done very well with unity in the Body of Christ. For starters, we have decided that we want to be on different teams. We have created denominations and factions that separate us. Many of our differences are on secondary matters and not the basics of our faith. We may all believe in Jesus, but are you a Calvinist or an Arminian? Are you a Lutheran or a Baptist? The list goes on and on and each denomination or group has their particular rules, traditions and beliefs about all sorts of things, including secondary and tertiary doctrines.

I believe that it was part of Satan’s scheme to separate us on the basis of our differences. It wasn’t too difficult since by default we tend to lean towards separating ourselves if we believe slightly differently on some things. Obviously, there are truths that are not up to debate. There is one God (in three persons) and the only way to Him is through the redemption that was purchased by Jesus on the cross. We receive this redemption through repenting of our sins, asking for forgiveness and receiving Christ Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God and is God’s final word and authority. It can’t be changed and it doesn’t evolve. Sin is what God calls sin and He has not changed His mind about it. Those are all non-negotiable. But other things that are divine mysteries and difficult to understand fully such as predestination and election are better left alone and are not worth separating over.

You would think that the one thing that proves that we belong to Jesus and that proves to the world that He is who He says He is would be an easy thing to do. But once again, it is proved that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15:5). But if the love of God has been truly poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5), then we have no excuse for not loving each other and becoming one as Jesus said that we should. It is not only proof to the world that God the Father sent Jesus to save the world, but it is also proof that we are indeed His disciples. Let’s park our minor differences and show the love of Jesus to the world by the way that we love each other. The world needs to see it.

Pastor Joey Vazquez