The World - In It But Not Of It Sample

Imagine that you were chosen to receive an expensive train ticket. Think about how exciting it would be to pack your belongings, join your friends, and board the train... only to have it sit still on the tracks, going nowhere. Would that still be exciting? The time with your friends may be fun for a while, but in that confined space with no movement towards your destination, you would get frustrated quickly.

Jesus’ prayer for you started with a reminder of your new identity ("not of this world") and then it also gave a destination: “into the world.” Jesus did not ask God to remove you from the world but prayed that you would go into places that may be hostile to His kingdom, in order to bring His joy and love and light to people and places that desperately need it. Jesus is not asking you to do anything that He didn’t already do himself. He was sent into the world by God, and now He is sending you!

It is an amazing fact that you have been made new and now belong to God’s kingdom and His family. You have received this new identity (train ticket) to take this message of God’s love to a destination (the world).

REFLECTION

Think about the message of God’s love and how you have received a new identity in Christ. Now think about the people in different areas of your life. What would it look like to share the truth about Jesus with them, using both words and actions?