Dear Redeeming Grace,

Jesus prayed these words in what is known as the High Priestly Prayer:

"Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one." (John 17:11b ESV)

How amazing to think that God's desire for his people is to have a kind of unity that reflects the perfect and eternal unity of the Father and Son. Dave reminded us of this last week as we thought of how the gospel goes out to all people so that God might make us one people.

The sheer fact that Jesus is interceding for our unity shows us what the heart of God is for us as his people. The ESV Study Bible helps us see what this unity looks like:

"The kind of unity that is central to Jesus' high priestly prayer is not organizational but is an all-encompassing relational reality that can be achieved only through the regenerating and sanctifying work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

As we strive together for this kind of unity here in the local context of Redeeming Grace Church, let's be encouraged that Jesus has prayed for it, and the Father is doing the work of keeping us. The ESV Study Bible note ends with this:

"Whenever such unity is even partially realized, the result will always be deep joy, a persuasive witness to the world, and a display of God's glory." May it be so among us.