Not of this world!
Scripture reading for April 29: John 17
“But now I am coming to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is Truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” John 17:13-18
Jesus was sent by His Father into the world that He had made. He came to earth as a man even though He was God’s eternal Son. His mission was to reveal the Father to His lost children and to seek and save them from eternal destruction and give them eternal life by adopting them into God’s family again. The ‘seed’ that would bring new birth and adoption was God’s Word and Jesus brought that Word to the world. His disciples had received Him and His Word and Jesus asked the Father to protect them from the evil one by sanctifying them through His Word of Truth.
Jesus emphasized that His disciples were not of this world. They had been part of the world system, but through believing God’s Word and receiving Jesus as Lord they were now citizens of heaven. They had been sanctified, that is ‘set apart’, for God’s use and family. As the Father had sent Jesus into the world from heaven to seek and save lost people, now Jesus also sent the reborn sons and daughters of God into the world to finish His Work. Jesus in love for His disciples, prayed these truths over them in His last hours here in the world.
Is it comforting to know that Jesus Christ has prayed this prayer for His disciples and for all to come through them? How is your world view of this earth and it’s people changed through Jesus’ prayer? Would you say that you are actively going into this world to complete Jesus’ mission of reaching the lost?
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for answering Your Son’s prayer for us who follow Jesus Christ. We are certainly not of this world and look forward to our eternal home with our heavenly Father and Jesus. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit again this day to empower me to reach the lost with Good News! Amen.
0 thoughts on “Not of this world!”