Through The Bible in a Year - August 3, 2026

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that … they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one….” - John 17:20-23

Jesus prays for unity among His disciples—and He grounds it in the most staggering reality imaginable. The basis for our unity is not shared personality, shared preferences, or shared history. It is the mutual indwelling of God the Father and God the Son.

Jesus prayed, “As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You” may those who now believe and those who will believe through them “be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me….”

This double indwelling—Christ in us, the Father in Him—means that every believer who has named Jesus as Savior is a receptacle of the glory of God. The same glory that descended as radiant cloud into the Old Testament tabernacle now dwells in every broken, struggling, imperfect Christian—you and those you worship beside.

Our Lord intends for the world to see the effects of this indwelling glory among believers. When people who have hurt each other, who face real differences, who have real reasons to stay apart—nonetheless love in the name of Jesus—the world knows something supernatural is present. This is Jesus’s testimony to the world. Christians are to be distinguished not merely by our doctrine and duty, but a mutual love that is supernatural in origin.

The great Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer nearly lost his faith during the mid-twentieth century’s “battle for the Bible”—not because he thought the Bible’s truth was questionable, but because the people fighting for it became so aggressively unloving. They were zealous for truth but empty of the grace that makes truth beautiful.

Schaeffer said this: “God has given to Himself alone the right to judge in righteousness. But He has given to the world the right to judge His disciples for their love.”

The world is making that judgment right now. And the most painful things that happen to God’s people often happen in God’s church. The most beautiful moments happen there too. And when people who have every reason to be bitter and divided nonetheless forgive and love—something the world cannot explain is on display.

Respond: Who in your church community are you finding it hardest to love? Who has hurt you, disappointed you, or created distance that feels justified?

Jesus says they are also receptacles of the glory of God—if they have named Him as Savior. You are not being asked to love them because of who they are. You are being asked to love them because of who is in them.

This week, take one step toward someone in your church community from whom you’ve been distant. Not to resolve everything at once—just take one step. A word, a prayer, a small act of grace. Let the world see that something supernatural is among you.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your Son prayed that we in the church would be one—and I confess how far I am from that prayer being answered in my own life. There are people in Your church I’ve been avoiding, resenting, or keeping at a distance. But You say they are receptacles of Your glory. Help me love them—not because of them, but because of You in them. Make Your Son’s prayer be answered in my life in order that the world may know Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.