In part of John 17 Jesus is praying for his disciples, He says some deep stuff; not surprising since He is divine... This part really resonated with me:
Jesus talks about how he has delivered God's message to his disciples, and now the world hates them - because, like Jesus, they do not belong to it. When God's message is given to us we have a message so much better than anything the world can say to us- how then could it hold onto us? The next verse is highlighted and circled multiple times (I guess it has always resonated with me):
I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.
So, even though we don't belong to the world Jesus isn't suggesting that God come and grab us now (we have been given His message remember). Instead he prays that God will keep us from the evil prince of this world, that we will continue to be in it, but not belong to it. Jesus isn't of the world and those to whom he delivered God's message are not worldly either. Jesus has prayed that his Father will not take us from the world but will keep us from the evil in it, next he prays this;
Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.
Jesus wants us to be purified and made holy, to be set apart by his Truth-breathing Word. We kinda need to get God's word into us if we want to be purified by it.
Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
We've been sent into the world, not belonging to it, but we have been sent to it. This world needs to hear God's message too: on our behalf Jesus dedicated himself so we could be made holy by means of the Truth. He gave his life as a ransom for many - I pray that we never take His sacrifice lightly. He could have just told us the truth or made a movie out of it or written it down or told one person to tell everyone else- but instead, He lived out the truth- and he died and rose again so that the Truth of God's message would come alive.
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