I grew up in a small town in southern Oklahoma. There were a lot of farmers, a lot of ranchers and a lot of Baptists. I knew who most of the farmers and the ranchers were, but I didn’t really know who the Baptists were; I just knew there were a lot of them, just like I knew there were a lot of other Christians who weren’t Baptists like myself living my small, rural town.
At the school I went to, I recognized kids from my church. I had known them for years, and I saw them on Sundays outside of school. But what about the other 300 kids in my class? I figured some of them went to other churches, some of them Baptist, others Catholic or Methodist. But I had no idea who believed what, who went were or ultimately, who held onto the same Hope that I held onto. I was isolated inside a shell with 15 other kids who looked like me, thought like me and had been my friends for years, which was a great thing. But there was always something missing.
There’s a story out of the Bible in the book of John that takes place right before Jesus gets stabbed in the back by one of his best friends. In the story, Jesus is talking with his friends and his followers about all they are going to experience in their lives: persecution, pain and rejection from the world, but also Help in the struggle and ultimately, joy. Really, He’s explaining life, a life full of the things we all experience as a part of the human experience.
At the end of the conversation, Jesus goes into a prayer for not only His friends and followers, but also people who will choose to call Jesus friend and follow Him in the future. In the prayer, He prays for a lot of things: to be glorified, to give God glory for the world to believe that He really was sent from God to bring Good News. But at the crux of the prayer, Jesus prays for His friends and followers, both current and future, to ‘be one.’
Some of the last moments of Jesus’ life spent with those closest to Him were spent asking the Creator of the World to keep His people close together, to keep them aware of one another, to keep them unified.
Why?
Because Jesus says that’s ultimately how the rest of the world will see and know that God actually sent Jesus into the world.
Through oneness, a testimony of Good is approved.
And when I was growing up, I felt that oneness was often missing. I didn’t know who all held the same Hope that I held onto. I didn’t know who had my back in tough times, and I didn’t know who’s back I should also have in their tough times.
But if we know, if we are One, if we are aware - the world can see more Truth. The world can see more love, the world can have more hope.
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: God’s armor has our front and side, it’s up to us to have one anothers’ backs.