“You, Father,

Are In Me”

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known to them, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

John 17:20-26

The time is right after Halloween. Thanksgiving has yet to come, and Christmas has yet to come, but the catalogs are coming full strength.

In a way, Christians are God’s catalogs. We are His illustration to the world of what He has to offer. His work in our lives makes us a picture of qualities that people may not know they need or want until they see them at work in us.

Jesus prayed that His followers would be unified so the world would know that God sent Him and love them as God loved Him. When Christ is alive in us, we become examples of God’s love. We can’t manufacture love. God is the manufacturer, and we are His workmanship.

As you browse holiday catalogs, consider what the “catalog” of your life says about God. Do people see qualities in you that make them long for God?

As a Christian, you are “God’s advertisement.”

Do people want what they see in you?

Our Daily Bread – November 3, 2008