In Not Of
“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do.”
-John 17:13-16 (NLT)
-John 17:13-16 (NLT)
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Sometimes believers have really bad habits when it comes to reading God’s word. This excerpt from the prayer of Jesus for his disciples has coined the phrase “in the world, but not of the world.” On the surface that seems like a fair assessment of what Jesus was praying until you start to see how it is being lived out in a person’s life. Too often, Christians, in an attempt to remain relevant, try to live with one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom of God. Since when did living for Christ become irrelevant? The Kingdom of God and the lifestyle of this world will never mix well. A believer’s life will feel torn apart trying to live this way. Jesus taught his disciples to love others the way they had experienced his love for them. This is what the world needs from true followers of Jesus more than anything! I would go so far as to say that the world despises our attempts at living to reflect culture and yet proclaiming a new and better life found in Christ. It doesn’t even make sense. Worse, I believe our “worldly relevance” is the most damaging and unattractive characteristic of modern Christianity. A world trapped in brokenness and pain is looking for something that is not one foot in and one foot out, but something that is wholly different.
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Don’t set the affections of your heart on this world or in loving the things of the world. The love of the Father and the love of the world are incompatible.
-1 John 2:15 (TPT)
-1 John 2:15 (TPT)
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