Bible Reading: John 17:15
Put your hand into your pocket. Your hand is in your pocket, but it isn’t of your pocket. In other words, your hand isn’t a part of your pocket.
Your hand can touch your pocket, share your pocket with your keys and loose change, but it can never be part of your pocket. It will always look different, feel different, and act different.
As a Christian, you live in the world. You are surrounded with people and things that make up the world, but you can’t – and shouldn’t – try to look like, act like, or think like those who choose to run their own lives without God. You are in the world, but you are not a part of the world, any more than your hand is part of your pocket. You are different. You are a child of God.
Jesus understand the challenges we face. He knew how difficult it would be for us to live in a world filled with sin. Therefore, Jesus prayed for us, saying in John 17:15, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”
I pray that you and I will keep our lives firmly under the control of Jesus Christ. It is only with His help that we will be able to live lives that please God. Only with the help of Jesus’ Holy Spirit can we live in the world and not be of the world.
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:15 & 16
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus’ prayer of protection. Give me courage to live differently than the rest of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.