“I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one—I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.” (John 17:20–23, NET)
Jesus prayed for believers to be one, to be unified so that the world will know that He was sent to us by God and that God has loved us just as He loved Jesus. Unity among believers is important and it can be attained and demonstrated in many ways. One way by which we, as believers, can be one is through our corporate worship. When we gather as a group of believers to worship and together focus our hearts and our minds on Jesus, we become one in heart and mind. In those moments of corporate worship, our hearts become closer than they could ever be by just trying to focus our thoughts and our efforts on working toward unity.
American pastor and author, A.W. Tozer once said, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.” When a group of believers is “tuned” to Jesus, they will be of one accord, they will be “in tune” with each other. The unity that results from worshipping together comes not because we are “tuned” to each other but rather because we are “tuned” to Jesus. Worship will bring us into unity with each other when we remember the words of Psalm 95:6 (NLT), “Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker.” When we submit our hearts, our minds, and our lives to Him together, we are “in tune” with each other and one in Him.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from The NET Bible® Copyright © 2005 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.bible.org All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
A Worshiper's Journal 