Scripture: "Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name which Thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are. "—JOHN xvii. 11,
"Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also which believe on me through their word; that they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us. And the glory which Thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one; / in them, and Thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send me."—JOHN xvii. 20-23.
Notice carefully how the Lord used the expression, "that they may be one," five times over. It is as if He felt the need of laying the emphasis strongly upon these words, if we are really to realize the chief thought of His High Priestly prayer. He longs that the words and the thought shall in very deed have the same place in our hearts that they have in His. As He was on the way to go to the Father through the cross, He would have us understand that He took the thought and the desire with Him to heaven, to make it the object of His unceasing intercession there. And He entrusted the words to us that we should take them into the world with us, and make them the object of our unceasing intercession too. That alone would enable us to fulfil the last, the new command, which He gave, that we should love the brethren as He loved us, that our joy might be full.
How little the church has understood this. How little its different branches are marked by a fervent affectionate love to all the saints of whatever name or denomination. Shall we not welcome heartily the invitation to make this prayer, "that they may be one" a chief part of our daily fellowship with God? How simple it would be when once we connected the two words, "Our Father," with all the children of God throughout the world. Each time we used these sacred words we would only have to expand this little word "Our" into all the largeness and riches of God's Father Love, and our hearts would soon learn as naturally as we say "Father" with the thought of His infinite love and our love to Him, to say "Our" with the childlike affection to all the saints of God, whoever and wherever they may be. The prayer that "they may be one" would then become a joy and a strength, a deeper bond of fellowship with Christ Jesus and all His saints, and an offer of a sweet savour to the Father of love.
