Christ Calls For Unity

[Thompson, Darryl]

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Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for October 12
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Christ Calls For Unity

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me. John 17:21.

We each need the help we can receive from other minds. God will work in
other minds than ours. The various gifts given to different ones are to
blend for the "perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12). . . . 

The Lord Jesus Christ will heal our infirmities and our weaknesses. He
owns us. We are His by creation and by redemption. We must all be united
in Him. He is the only source of healing. All restoring power comes from
Him. He has opened a fountain "to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin
and for uncleanness." He gives each one an invitation to come and be
healed, and to drink of the water of life. Let us not trust in
ourselves, but in Jesus.

There will always be obstacles before us, but we are to follow our
Leader, and meet our difficulties unitedly, hand in hand. There is only
one way to heaven. We must walk in the footsteps of Jesus, doing His
works, even as He did the works of His Father. We must study His ways,
not man's ways; we must obey His will, not our own. Walk carefully. Do
not go ahead of Christ. Make no move without consulting your Leader. Ask
in humble prayer, and "ye shall receive." He is the Way, the Truth, the
Life.

Read and study carefully the prayer that Christ offered just before His
trial, recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John. Follow its
teachings, and you will be brought into unity. Our only hope of reaching
heaven is to be one with Christ, and then, in and through Christ, we
shall be one with one another. No one is called to walk alone. In Christ
life and immortality are brought to light. He has opened the way to the
kingdom of heaven to those who believe in Him, but He assigns to no one
a path different to that which all must travel. He calls for unity, and
unity we must have. God asks us to sink self in Christ. For the natural
man this is not easy. But through the power of the incarnation of
Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the strength of God is revealed in
gentleness and beauty. To "as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God." By this power we may overcome our evil
tendencies and so modify our imperfect dispositions that the will of God
may be fulfilled in us.

>From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 264.