At One With Him [John 17]

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¹³"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

¹⁴"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.¹⁵"I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.¹⁶"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.¹⁷"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸"As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.¹⁹"For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. ²⁰"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

 

When I was a 20 year, deeply in love with Dick, wondering what scripture to have read at our wedding, Jesus' prayer for me in John 17 seemed exactly what I wanted.  "...that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us."  It was this oneness that I was anticipating and longing for. Thirty six years later as I read this passage again I am reminded of the oneness that the Father and Jesus shared together, the oneness that They are inviting me to share.  I realize that I have had glimpses of what oneness is in my marriage.  The moments when I surrender my plan and together we move in the same direction.

 

You have probably had moments like this:  I am arm and arm with Dick, we are really together, listening to each other, being in touch with what the other one is thinking and feeling.  We are walking through the mall and without words, his nudge directs me into a shop.  We walk in spontaneously together, in harmony.  It is no longer me, an individual walking into the shop I want to go in, pulling him along. We are so in tune with each other, we have surrendered our individual wants and plans, and move together as one.

Jesus showed us over and over how that oneness happens.  Have you caught the numerous times He has said that He says only what the Father speaks, He does what the Father wills, He judges as the Father judges?  As we have read about His everyday life in the book of John, there is a sense of the instantaneous, not premeditated, moving in sync with the Father.  “I do nothing on my own initiative.”  He surrendered, moment by moment, to the Father.  We see it vividly when He prayed, "Not My Will, but Your will."

 

Lord, I praise You that You have invited me into this union with You.  Cause me to surrender to Your leading today, moment by moment.  I want to walk through the day, arm in arm with You, not me tugging to do things my way. Only Your Spirit can keep me mindful of this oneness we have. Keep me in Your truth.