What if we’re still missing the point? What if sin is not the problem?

What if our problem is lacking the most important evidence Jesus said would prove Him and cause the world to believe in Him?

That one thing is unity among believers.

Our love identifies us as His people; our unity proves that He is from God.

Jesus said that.

Look around. Can you see the chaos around us is not caused by a barrage of sinfulness, but one of divisiveness?

If you believe there is such a thing as spiritual darkness, and if you believe it does have an agenda, surely you can see that it is not trying to get us to sin—we need no help doing that—but rather to get us to fight about sin, to divide us?

And we keep falling for it. We are still punching the air, just like in Old Times, trying harder, telling each other to do more, accusing “sinners” for the condition of the world. We’re still declaring war. We’re still attempting to defeat sin ourselves, when Jesus already did that. His final prayer for us was not that we would live sinless lives (We should avoid sin at all cost—don’t misunderstand me), but that we would be one. One first with God through Him, and “perfected in unity” with each other, which means in Aramaic “to dissolve into one.”

When we blame sin for our current circumstance, we shift the conversation to one that never mentions humility, soul-searching, or oneness with each other through God. Blaming sin points somewhere else, usually at someone else, and at the very worst, it comes with a crushing obligation to fix the world through trying harder to fix ourselves and spewing accusations at a sick, fallen world. It’s a hopeless plan.

The way to Christ’s will for us—to unity—is to shift our focus back to the very simple goodness and power of the Gospel of Good News by:

1. Loving each other (Christians).
2. Loving our neighbor (everyone else).
3. Laying down our weapons of judgment.

I don’t mean accepting sin. I mean stop flogging people. Stop blaming. Stop looking down on anyone because that is patently anti-Christ. Stop the “us” and “them” mentality. To be set apart does not mean to be better than.

The manifest life of Christ in us is lived outwardly in humility, and inwardly through prayer—Prayer is where the war is.

Take a deep breath and remember that God is rest and peace, irresistible kindness, undeserved mercy, heartbreaking grace, and all-welcoming love.

And we are not God. We are witnesses of His love. His love changes us.

Let others witness Him in us, and His Witness will fill the world.

~

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Jesus’ Prayer

²⁰ “And I ask not only for these disciples,
    but also for all those who will one day
    believe in me through their message.
²¹ I pray for them all to be joined together as one^[q]
    even as you and I, Father, are joined together as one.
    I pray for them to become one with us^[r]
    so that the world will recognize that you sent me.
²² For the very glory you have given to me I have given them
    so that they will be joined together as one
    and experience the same unity that we enjoy.^[s]
23 You live fully in me and now I live fully in them
    so that they will experience perfect unity,^[t]
    and the world will be convinced that you have sent me,
    for they will see that you love each one of them
    with the same passionate love that you have for me.
²⁴ “Father, I ask that you allow everyone that you have given to me
    to be with me where I am!^[u]
    Then they will see my full glory—
    the very splendor you have placed upon me
    because you have loved me even before the beginning of time.
²⁵ “You are my righteous Father,^[v]
    but the unbelieving world has never known you
    in the perfect way that I know you!
    And all those who believe in me^[w]
    also know that you have sent me!
²⁶ I have revealed to them who you are^[x]
    and I will continue to make you even more real to them,
    so that they may experience the same endless love
    that you have for me,
    for your love will now live in them, even as I live in them!”

John 17:20-26