Unity in Christ

by Patrick Shin
GLDI Class of 2008
Student, UC San Diego

Going to GLDI has definitely been life changing for me. My views upon life and this world have changed from seeing my existence from a short-term perspective to a long-term plan. During GLDI, God showed me His heart for unity. In John 17: 22-23 it reads, “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. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” This is Jesus Christ’s prayer for unity on our behalf. Jesus understood the power of unity because He is God.

As I progressed in my study of the Word during GLDI, the Holy Spirit continued to lead me to other passages throughout the Bible that showed God’s heart for unity in His people. As I began to think more about unity the Holy Spirit pushed me to think about our design and purpose. Because the 40 days where also a time to get to know God and to better know ourselves in order to know our function in the body of Christ, it was very refreshing to realize that we were designed by God to be united as one under Christ since the beginning. When you read Genesis 1:26, you’ll find this: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’” The word that sticks out the most to me is “our”, showing that God in the trinity was united as one. I do not fully understand or will every fully understand the trinity, but what I do see in the trinity is unity.As the days continued to dwindle down I began to really think about how unity could ever be achieved. That is when the Holy Spirit again began to show me other people’s visions and how in all our unique visions we are all given one same calling to glorify God and worship Him in all that we do.

This was a life changing moment for me because when I learned about Dr. John C. Kim’s heart and vision for America and the world, based on 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will  humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”, I found that this vision for America and my heart to see unity were absolutely in tune with God’s heart. I discovered that at the core of all the students’ unique visions, we were still working together for Christ. The Holy Spirit was able to teach me that as Christians we are one body, given specific purposes and functions in the Body. As Christ as our head, whether we are the hands or the feet we need to realize our unique gifts and understand our role in relation to the whole body.I pray that you too would seek God’s Word in the Bible and send your children or yourself to GLDI to take hold of the blessings given to America to have the resources to build up godly global leaders who will see this world through a biblical worldview.

Ephesians 4:4-6: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”