“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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” (John 17:20-21).

I know that Jesus prayed for His disciples before He was crucified but this Scripture says that He prayed for us, too. We are blessed when others pray for us. How much more blessed we are to know that Jesus Himself prayed for us.

Jesus prayed for our unity but unity does not mean uniformity. Each of us may have different functions but we are all equally important. Though we have different talents and different characteristics we each have equal value in God’s eyes. I can admire many other believers but God doesn’t ask me to be them. Jesus did pray that I would be one with them.

In Jesus’ prayer He identified how the world would know that God sent Him. He takes us from different geographical regions. He calls us with our different personalities and from our diverse ethnic backgrounds. He uses us with our talents and abilities and He makes us one. That is a miracle! The diversity in the Church is one of the most outstanding testimonies to God’s amazing grace.