The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-03-17
For His Own
Lesson for March 10, 1861

DR.. Foreman
What one of us needs, another
does not. In a worship service II
the church. the minister canno
offer the same particular prayer.
which any one person presen
might rightfully pray; for the
circumstances vary from person
to person. Nevertheless a minis
ter may offer prayers which
every one there may take X
heart. So it was with the grea1
prayer of Christ written down ii
John II. This was q prayer fol
all believers, for his own.
Wherever Christian lives, what
ever his needs. these things al
least are Christ's will for him. Il
we want these things too. we may
be sure we are desiring the will
OF God, praying In the name Of
Christ.
Joy
This prayer is full of requests
yet it is far from a gimme
prayer. The reader may profit.
ably sit down and think wha,
makes this different from SC
many of our request prayers
Meanwhile we can highlight for
moment four gifts Jesus asks
from His Father for those who
have been given Him" One is
joy. This is commonplace enough,
by the sound of it. Who does wish
to be happy. who does not pray
for happiness for his friends
Yet this is different from ordi-
nary happiness. THAT they may
have my joy fulfilled in them.
selves" Jesus prays. This is not
commonplace. The reader is in.
vited to think it out. What is the
difference between ordinary hap.
pineSS and the kind Of joy that
we can think of as characteristic
of Christ
Keep Them From the Evil One"
We wish we had the actual
words Jesus prayed in: probably
Aramaic. The Greek language OF
the New Testament has no way
Of distinguishing between evil
and 1.-THE evil one" : that is,
Satan. So we have to ask: Did
our Lord pray that Ibis own
should be kept from evil or from
the evil one? There is not space
to give all the reasons for think
ing that probably Jesus meant
the evil one. Certainly we are in
contact with evil of some kind
all the days Of our lives, evil in
our own hearts if nowhere else
That They May All Be One
1t is a shame to argue about
this great prayer Of Christ, but
it is a fact that this simple re-
quest. that they may all be
one," has had many meanings
put on it. The least this can mean
is twofold: ID that all the mem.
berS of Christian congregation
shall be one in heart: ~ that
every individual Christian shall
feel in his heart. and practice in
his life, Christian brotheriness
and harmony with all other
Christians. Now that is 50 simple
that it sounds like a truism. that
Is. something SO obvious that a
fool might have thought of it.
But whatever it may sound like
Jesus never said anything more
difficult. The mere fact that he
prayed for unity of this kind
shows that it cannot be achieved
without Gods help. How easy il
is to be in harmony with people
Just like us! How hard it is to
feel any harmony with people
who are different! But that is
Just what unity calls for.
That They May Be With Me-
EvangeliStS talk of deciding
for Christ. That is the right way
to start. But times come when
we are called on to decide with
Christ. The great and perhaps
most searching question to be
asked of Christians is: Are you
with Christ? He prayed for that !:
do you? But most students Of the
Gospels believe Jesus was think
ing also - or perhaps chiefly,
for he was facing death - of the
life beyond this life. 1t is putting
the emphasis somewhere besides
the center when we talk OF
heaven and hell. The question for
this life goes into tho next too:
Are YOU With Him? To be with
Him is what heaven is: to be
without Him Is what he'll means.
Every morning and every wax
lrg hour. the Christian may well
ask himself Is the way I am
spending this hour way that
brings me closer to my Master
or is it going to make Him
strange to me?
Based on outlines copyrighted
by the Division Of Christian Edu-
cation. National C0uncil of the