Note: The National Day of Prayer is Thursday, May 7. A community-wide prayer event is being held at Way’s Garden at 6:30 p.m. that evening. All are invited. Bring a lawn chair. A great opportunity for us to declare in complete unity, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”

In our quest to answer The Five Questions of Life, we have started with the primal question: Who Am I? It is the essential question because left unanswered, the other four questions have little or no practical relevance.

If I can’t answer the identity question, then there is no point to asking the purpose question, “Why am I here?” If these two questions are left unanswered, we exist as a boat with just a sail — no anchor or rudder — floating with the wind, waves and current of chance.

Some philosophers celebrate a life without identity and purpose, but in so doing, they have by default chosen their identity and purpose. They set their sail to catch the wind of chance, and wherever it blows, they determine to find meaning and purpose.

Christian, take a deep breath before reading this next statement. In fact, you might want to sit down. Ready?

There are plenty of happy and content people in the world who do not choose to know God or to follow his laws. They have answered the identity and purpose questions and are in full pursuit of their aspirations. Some are as passionate about their pursuits as we believers are about following and serving God — maybe more so.

Jesus acknowledged that there are people who find meaning and purpose in life without the presence of God, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32

There are people who see themselves as “healthy” and “righteous”. They feel no need to worship God or to surrender to the lordship of Jesus. When we believers try to convince them that they are actually sick and sinful, they either laugh at us or get angry. Remember, the powerful people (religious, political and philosophical) laughed at Jesus and mocked him — and then put him to death. The healthy and righteous don’t respond well when you tell them they are sick and wrong. Jesus told us that his message was offensive. See Matthew 10:16-23. Paul wrote that the message of the cross is “foolishness to those who are perishing”. See 1 Corinthians 1:18.

Why is this important? Two reasons:

First, be thankful that God has blessed you with his holy presence. It is his awakening grace to you. It makes you aware of sin, sickness, and death, and your need of forgiveness, healing, and eternal life. You didn’t discover your need of reconciliation with God on your own. You’re not smarter than the average bear, so there is nothing to boast about in your faith — it is a gift from God. Read Ephesians 2. The only reason you have faith is because God awakened you to it. If you think otherwise, then you are carrying the stench of religious pride. Today would be a good day to bathe in the humility of repentance and confession.

Second, it is only through the expression of genuine selfless love and the resulting humble unity of Christ’s Body that the message of the gospel finds an effective foothold in the world. Jesus drives this truth home in John 17:20-23,

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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

“Then the world will know.” That’s a powerful statement of effectiveness. It is preceded by “so that they (believers) may be brought to complete unity.”

Believers, are we living in complete unity with each other? If not, why not? The answer to that question begins in our identity — I am a child of God. A child of God can commune fully with other believers, even when they don’t see eye-to-eye on every issue. Why? Because they know who they are, and no one can take that away from them. This is the reason Paul wrote Romans 14. When you know your identity, you don’t need to prove yourself to anyone else. You keep your eyes on your Master, and you follow him. You are not threatened by believers who hold to other positions — and you respect that they are faithfully following their Master. That mutual respect, demonstrated in love, allows all of us in the Body of Christ to declare in glorious unity, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”

As a child of God, you carry the DNA of love. Jesus wants that love to be expressed fully between fellow believers. He even declares such love to be the identifying hallmark of his followers:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Mark your calendar for May 7, 6:30 p.m., at Way’s Garden. Help us to declare in complete unity, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”