In praying for the church, Jesus began by praying for us to experience oneness
and unity. He then progressed to ask God for the ultimate destiny of the church.
Jesus prayed for the church to be with Him ultimately. Here He envisaged the rapture
of the church, when all believers are caught up to be with the Lord. Each one
of us will behold and share His glory forever. Simply put, we will be exactly like
Him. To see His glory is to experience Him in all His fullness. John the
beloved tells us what this means in his letter to the church. In 1 John 3:2, he
said, “Beloved,
now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as
yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” Yes, our ultimate glory and destiny is to see Christ and be
transformed to be exactly like Him. Bear in mind that meanwhile, He is changing
us and making us incrementally more and more like Him. Heaven is our
destination, Christ-likeness is God’s ultimate goal for us
Jesus then concluded this prayer for the church, for her to experience present
intimacy with Him. To share intimacy with the Lord is a key component to
spiritual vitality, fulfillment and fruitfulness. This can be a present experience
for us who love Him. The process begins with realizing that God had sent Jesus to
us. And as we progress in our relationship with Him, we will also know and
experience the Father’s love for us. And, as the awareness of that love grows,
we will also become more conscious of Jesus’ presence and love in us.
Here we learn that love will always be the distinguishing mark of true Christianity.
One sure way to make clear that we belong to Jesus and that we have fellowship with
Him is the demonstration of love in our life. So as we truly love each other
within the believers’ community, we validate the love of God in us. As a member
of Christ’s body, we can complete His work by showing and demonstrating love.
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