"Liberty is Being One With God"

"That they all may be One; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be One in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. (John 17:21) I can now see what is meant by being One with God. It goes a little further than just me or you; it's all of us in Him, and He in us all! Again, I must stress this one very important truth: we are not in this alone! In other words; your life and the testimony of Christ in you, is not for you, but for those that are lost, and those that need to be strengthened, and those that have lost hope. "That the world may believe", was said many times by our Lord and Saviour, and it was something important to Him. I know that hoping for unity in the church is a lost hope, but we must pray for unity within our fellowships, and the church that we attend. Unfortunately; when we make what is done in our churches 'all about me', then we take away from the only real hope of unity, which is 'others first'. I want you to think about something: If the reason you were here, after accepting Jesus into your heart, was to grow in grace; do you feel you are growing? Be really honest, and ask yourself this simple question: Why am I still here? The thief on the cross had it pretty easy, because he only needed to press forward for a very short while; and yet, nothing much about his life mattered; just that he asked forgiveness, and was forgiven! It was that forgiveness which he received that was the reason for his life from then on out. For the balance of his life here on this earth, as short as it was, he was still to be a testimony of the forgiveness he received; and as they broke his legs, don't you think that people took notice? Do you think there might have been people there to watch him die? His family or friends, which witnessed the exchange between him and Jesus; and then watched the change in the life of a man, as short lived as it was. You are here to be a testimony of God's Love; which requires sacrifice, and putting others before yourself. I am guilty of not doing this as much as I should, and I have a tendency of looking for flaws in others, so I will feel better about myself. When I catch myself doing this, I have to ask God to forgive me, because, this is the opposite of what I should be doing. We must look for the good in others; looking for the qualities of Jesus in our brothers and sisters. And in doing so, we will discover something really spectacular: We will have a real peace about ourselves! Why? Because we are One in Christ; and being One in Christ, as we think good about our fellow believers, we are also thinking good about ourselves in the process. However, when we think bad about those that are One with us, we might think we are doing it to make ourselves feel better about who we are; but in reality, we are thinking bad about ourselves: And where is the Peace in that??? "And the Glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be One, even as We are One:" (John 17:22)