Often times when people hear things like this, it sounds odd to them. It's as though they are being told not to live in this world at all and you may likely hear things like, what should I do then? It's as though you sent your child to a friend's place, and at the same time told him to stay in the house but not to do anything there. He should know that while he is there and that although he may be staying there for some time, he is also to be aware of the fact that he has a family. He should seek therefore not to be like the people he is going to meet.
The truth is that if you do not explain well to that child, he may not understand the reason you are giving him such information. He may wonder in his heart why he has to stay in a place and not do as they do. However, if he has been told the reason he has to do that, he would come to understand that there's actually a need for it. Let's take for instance, in your friend's place, they take alcohol, but you don't. If your child must be there, he has to understand that this is not acceptable and must carry the family's value at all times. Praise God.
This is the essence of our study today; to actually know where we stand and what is expected of us as children of the living God. It should be known that wherever we find ourselves, we are to have this in us, that we are of the Lord and any thing contrary should not be seen in us. I trust that the Lord through his word will bless our hearts today. Amen. The passage of scripture under consideration is seen below,
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world". (John 17:16).
The Lord Jesus praying for his disciples in the seventeenth chapter of John made some very special requests to God on behalf of his disciples. That they should not be taken from the world but that they should be preserved. He also requested that they be sanctified (separated, and distinguished) through the word that he had spoken to them for the word was truth. Here we see how it was that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ made sure to pray for his disciples such that when he was gone to the Father, they would do in his place even as he did. This should serve as an admonition to us, that we are also to commit other people to God in prayers just as it is impressed upon our hearts by the Holy spirit. Praise God.
And then in verse 16, he said something that we all need to bear in mind, the fact that we are not of the world just as he said concerning the disciples. And I would like you to take note of something, the Lord Jesus said just as he also was not of the world, meaning that, if we are his, we must live just like he did and this must be registered in our spirits that just as he was not of the world, that is, did not live according to the dictates of the flesh, we as his are not to do the same. He made himself an example that we may see, learn, and follow. Praise God. While we love, and extend our hands of love to people especially those still outside the fold, we are not to live as they do or pattern our lives according to the systems of the world.
It was the scripture that said we are not to love the world, because if we do, it means the love of the Father is not in us. It means certainly that we do not know the one to whom we belong and the fact that even him didn't live as of the world. He didn't pray for the Lord to take them out of the world, also the same with us, but prayed that they be kept so that others through their words, and ours today can believe. If we then embrace the system, and live thereunto, how shall they through our words believe? And how dwells the love of the Father in us? This is nothing but the truth that although you're in the world, you're not of the world. The Lord help us all. Amen.
Thought for the Day
You are not of the world even as Christ was not of the world.
Gospel Today is a comforting, exhorting, edifying and inspiring devotional published by the Delightsome Land Christian Ministry. For questions, enquiries/testimonies, please call/WhatsApp: 08174915361, 08053662272 or Email: [email protected].
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