Complete Unity

[Jesus said] “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.”
John 17:23

Daily Devotion – May 30, 2022

Devotion based on John 17:23

See series: Devotions

Complete unity. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? Can you even imagine it? Our world struggles to attain even partial unity. Russia invades Ukraine. Democrats and Republicans constantly argue and accuse each other. Different church bodies and religions teach different things about how we get to heaven. Even the voices calling for unity these days only want unity if that means everyone agrees with their view of the world.

Clearly, the world does not enjoy complete unity, but we are no better at achieving it in our own lives. We can’t even find it in our own families, as we disagree about everything from sports teams to medical decisions. Complete unity? Again, it sounds nice, but it is not reality.

Did you know that Jesus prayed for his people to have unity? Jesus wanted his followers to have complete unity—a perfect unity. A unity of faith, purpose, and love that would last. Such a unity would bring great blessing, but it would prove costly. Jesus was willing to pay the cost for us all. He gave his life on the cross to pay for our sins of disunity. He gave his life in our place so that we could all have God’s forgiveness and salvation. Through his death, Jesus has united us as God’s children. He has brought us into God’s family. Now, through faith in Jesus, we are one. We are on the same team. We are united in the love of Jesus and his call to live as his children.

Can you imagine a place where there is no disagreement? No war or factions or opposing political parties? A place with no shouting, arguing, or violent opposition? There is such a place, and we have been invited there through faith in our Savior, Jesus. Through faith in him, we will enjoy complete unity in heaven forever. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, through the life and death of your son Jesus, you have brought us unity. Keep us in faith and bring us to our heavenly home. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.