Daily EncouragementSample

Our Lord is praying about his disciples’ involvement in the world - “the mass of unbelieving and unspiritual men,” as it has been defined.

This is not a prayer that his followers may escape from contact with the world, but that they may be protected from the “the evil one,” under whose control the world exists (1 John 5:19). He does not wish his followers to be isolated from the world of men and women, but he wants them to be kept safe, unharmed by the enemy (1 John 5:18).

How is this prayer of our Lord answered in practice?

We are involved in the world but we do not belong to the world (John 17:16). We will not hide the fact that we are temporary residents and that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).

We associate freely with the world, but we do not love the world - that is, all that characterizes it, “the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does” (1 John 2:16).

We are sent into the world to be its salt and light, but we are not squeezed into its mould (John 17:18; Rom. 12:2, Phillips). Like Scotsmen in a foreign land, we retain our heavenly accent.