The Litmus Test weblog

The Master never meant for there to be divisions and dis-unity among His followers. He wanted there to be love and care to show how God really is.

In John 17:11, just before He was brutally murdered, the Master had earnestly prayed the greatest desire in His heart, “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Father, keep them in Your name, the name You have given Me, that they may be ONE even as You and I are ONE.”

Is His prayer relevant today? Shouldn’t what was so important to the Master back then be just as important today? It had enough weight then that people were abandoning all their possessions and their families to be a part of it. But now most who claim to follow Him are still living their own independent lives and maybe going to church once or twice a week. And they say about the Master’s words, “Oh, that was for back then. Things are different now.” But why shouldn’t the gospel be obeyed today just as it was in the beginning? Can’t we break out of the sleepy religious traditions we have grown up with and recapture the vitality and excitement of those early believers we read about in the Book of Acts?

Yes! Now there is a group of people who are obeying the gospel with all their hearts. They are actually living a life of love and unity, laying down their lives for each another every day. They are getting back to the roots of the true church, the community, not living their own selfish lives, all the while believing that they are doing the will of God. They really live together in community, just like the first church did back then. They deny themselves daily, putting the words of their Master into practice in their own lives, not reasoning them away and excusing their lack of obedience to the gospel He preached.