John 17:23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
Here, Jesus is praying for all believers. He is praying for you! Ever wonder what God thinks of you? Ever wonder what plans he has for you? It’s all in His Word. Jesus desires that we live in unity. Not the unity we generally think of, where people want to be close to one another and are always in agreement. Our unity is based on God’s will and His Spirit within us.
All believers who have received the gift of salvation have the Spirit of Christ within them. We are in unity when we are living according to His Spirit within us and not according to our ways, being in complete obedience to His will. Jesus demonstrated the obedience we are to have when He prayed to God the Father before being handed over to be crucified: “Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).
Going back to Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17:23, we see the purpose of this unity: “…that the world may know You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:23). Family, we are children of God. And here, Jesus proclaims that God loves us, even before we fail Him and fall short as we often do. He loves you more than you realize. He loves us not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who He is.
And we see in John 17:23 that His love, this unity, leads others to Him “that the world may know You…” Let’s live in unity by being obedient to God’s will; let’s rejoice that He loves us, no matter what we have done, and let it be so real in us that the world sees it and is convinced of who God is.
– Jerry Anguelo