Protected by God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

PROTECTED BY GOD

John 17:13-19

13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

NIV

Again, we could say this prayer only pertains to the eleven apostles, however, the next words of Jesus, which we will get to later, include everyone who believes. Certainly we could not say that they are the only ones who are not of this world. There are other scriptures that speak about being in the world, but not of the world, as well as those warnings by Paul to stop acting or behaving as though we are of the world when we no longer belong to this world. In fact, we are no longer of this world as Jesus is. He left this world, although he was never of it, as he always was, and is and will forever be, of heaven. He left heaven to come to earth to provide and show us a way to heaven. When he had completed the task the Father sent him to do, he returned back to heaven. Now, just as the disciples had to remain in the world during their nature lifetime as men, so must we. We cannot remove ourselves from being in the world during our lifetime here. As some would think the responsibility of the government is to care for us from cradle to grave, the fact is we have a life to live from birth to death, here in this world. But that does not mean by any means that we must be of the world. Once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we no longer are of this world. What that means is that we no longer live by the standards, the principles, the ideologies, the philosophies, or any other concept the world has established. Sure, we have to work, but again, we are told to work as onto the Lord. We have to earn our way, work with our hands, so not to be a burden to others, all that is explained in the scriptures. Our particular lifestyle is surely different from believers throughout the world. Our type of homes, our mode of transportation, our working conditions, if fact, even the type of work we do, is unique to each culture or country. Even what we consider relaxation, or entertainment vary among believers, but the one thing we all have in common is that we no longer belong to this world. So then the question we are asked is why then to we look like we belong to it? If we are not of the world, how can we partner with them in any endeavor? Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified, that the Father would make us holy, to render or declare us sacred or holy. The second meaning of that Greek word translated as sanctify is to separate from things profane and dedicate to God, to consecrate. This is not an action that we can do, but is only done and can only be done by God. As hard or diligently we may try, we cannot make ourselves holy. Our behavior is never good enough to sanctify ourselves. That is why Jesus prays for us to be sanctified by the Father. Jesus can sanctify himself, but we cannot. We need that work to be done by the Father by his truth, his word is truth. So then God is the one who declares us to be holy, to be separated from that which is profane. The world is profane for it rejects Jesus. So we live in this profane world, but we are protected by God. Is that not a glorious thought, to live protected by God.