John 17:23

“I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You have sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.” John 17:23

As Jesus continues His prayer we once again see Him express His desire for the unity of His disciples. I believe one of the reasons Jesus repeats His prayer for unity so often in this passage is because He knows how much of a struggle unity is for us. He knows that we believers desperately need all the prayers for unity we can get, because daily it is something with which we each wrestle. Another reason I believe He repeats Himself is because He wants us to really understand how important it is that we are unified. Unity is God’s deep desire for us, and thus it should be ours as well.  

Jesus desires for His followers to be perfectly one. In studying the previous verse, I realized how unity is only possible through Jesus. When hearing that we as believers are called to be perfectly one, it is easy to become discouraged and wonder how in the world that will ever come to be, and yet we needn’t be discouraged. As always, we simply need to take our eyes off of ourselves, realizing that it is not about us, but about Him in us. With man it is impossible to be perfectly united with his fellow brothers and sisters, and yet what is impossible with man is possible with God. Our part is surrendering to Jesus, dying to ourselves to that He might live in us.

As we continue on reading the verse, we again see that Jesus desires for us to be united that our unity might be a testimony to the world around us. As I said, unity is only possible when we are in Christ, and so when we are unified it points to Him.

I absolutely love the last part of this verse – “that You have sent me and loved them even as You loved Me.” What an encouraging statement! God has loved us even as He has loved His Son. This absolutely amazes me. I am so thankful that a perfect God loves me, such an imperfect person. I think it’s important to realize that just because God loves us does not mean that we are spared from pain and hurt in this life. I think so often it is easy to think, “If God loves me, why is this happening?” And yet we need not forget God’s Son, Jesus, whom He loves with all of His heart. God loves Jesus with all His heart, and yet Jesus endured the hardest trial of all; death on a cross. God, in His infinite love and wisdom, sent His Son to die for us. He knew how painful it would be, and yet He also knew that that was what needed to take place in order to complete His plan for salvation. You see, God loves Jesus with all of His heart, and yet Jesus endured much suffering, but His suffering was used for good, for the salvation of all who would believe on Him. The same is true with us, God loves us with all of His heart, and yet we still must endure suffering. We are not spared from the trials of this life, and yet we can be confident, that, since we love God and are called according to His purpose, all things will work together for good. (Rom. 8:28)

I am so thankful to know that God loves me with such an extravagant and amazing love. Even when I go through hard times, I can be comforted knowing that He loves me.

Application: Today I will thank God for loving me with such an extravagant love.