That the World May Know

 

That The World May Know

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

John 17:23

One of the blessings of Adoption is our identification as the people of God. A key point which Christ makes in His prayer is ‘that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them.’ The story of Redemption is the story of Electing Love. It is the story of the Love of God to those, ‘chosen…before the foundation of the world.’ The coming of Christ into the world, His perfect living, His sacrificial dying, His glorious resurrection are all indications of God’s love for the people to whom Christ refers as ‘my sheep.’ These are ‘all that the Father has given Me,’ of whom Christ speaks in John 6. This is a testimony to the world, whether they will accept it or not. This is the logical extension of God’s naming us and claiming us. This will, by the very nature of it, produce conflict, hatred, and estrangement from the world. The worldlings who refuse God will also refuse to accept those Whom God identifies as His Own. Christ said, ‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.’ This may not seem to us, for the minute, to be such a wonderful blessing, however, consider the alternative. The alternative is to be without Christ, without forgiveness, without peace, and without any good eternal prospect. There is no middle ground. For God to show to the world that we are His, is for Him to separate us from the world.  It is Christ Who sets us apart, it is Christ Who makes us different.

Our Gracious and Loving God,
we rejoice in Your Grace and in Your Unfailing Love.
We praise You that You have separated us unto Yourself;
that we are Your people, and the sheep of Your pasture.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning