31 Days of UnitySample

(Re)new: During the next ten days we will seek the renewing presence of God within our lives and communities. Having reflected on God’s love for and work within us, we now move to God’s work within the body of Christ. The passages for (Re)new will focus on the nature of the church, and the ways in which we fulfill our calling by practicing God’s love in our relationships with one another.

In John 17 we have an extraordinary prayer, offered by Jesus the night before the crucifixion. Jesus prays for the glory of God and for his followers. Beautifully, he prays not only for those who are following him in that moment but also for all those who will one day come to follow him. (That’s us!). This priestly prayer brings us into Jesus’ heart, giving us insight into his mission and our participation in it.

In the beginning of this prayer, Jesus says that it is through his work on the cross that the Father will be glorified. Jesus came to bring eternal life to all who would know him. This salvation, the bringing home of the lost, and the dead to new life, is the way in which God is glorified. Incredibly, it is not only a work that allows Jesus’ followers to experience God’s glory when they die and are resurrected, but it is the bringing of eternal life into their lives here and now. The death and resurrection of Jesus forever broke down the barrier between God and his people and invites them to know and live in the presence of God now! This isn’t a hope for the future, but a promise for the present.

As followers of Jesus, we too glorify God through our death and resurrection. We die to our sin. We die to our own will. We die to our plans and purpose. Then we are reborn into new life with Christ where God makes us whole. We become part of God’s will and plan for the world. Through this rebirth, our work becomes the work of Jesus. We too are to glorify God through our sacrificial lives, which invite others into the transforming knowledge of God’s love.

Our movement toward unity is a movement of death and resurrection. The barriers that keep us from being unified are the barriers that Christ has overcome through his work on the cross. Dying with Christ, we die to our sin, the limitations of our mind, our will, our bias, our envy, our hatred, and we are reborn into the fullness of God’s love. This life of death and resurrection is contained in Jesus’ call for us to pick up our crosses and to follow after him. There is always a new level of surrender for us to discover.

Let us seek renewal in Christ by heeding this call and picking up our cross to follow him.

After you read the passage, ask yourself these questions:

• As you read the passage, what word or phrase most stood out to you?
• Did you feel the Spirit speaking to you about your life? Was there a word of challenge or encouragement?
• What does it mean for you to pick up your cross and follow after Jesus, today?

Our Prayer for (Re)newal

Create in us clean hearts, O God, that we may learn to be your people, and live in unity with one another. Give us the gift of humility, and strengthen us to live in sacrificial love for one another. May we glorify you by being peacemakers in a world of division. Amen