Those Whom You Have Given

Those Whom You Have Given

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world:  thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

John 17:6

Christ was keenly conscious of his relationship with His disciples.  As He prays, He refers to that relationship on more than one occasion throughout the High Priestly Prayer.  In our text for today, as Christ addresses His Father, He refers to them as, ‘the men whom You have given me out of the world.’  Because God is Sovereign, He is the Ruler of us all.  He does what He wills with us.  For His Own purposes, He gave to Christ these twelve men.  All of them were there to serve the Divine purpose within the Divine plan.  Christ received them, in whatever state they were when He called them to follow Him.  From where they were, He taught them, counseled them, developed them, listened to them and prepared them for the Divine mission upon which He would ultimately send them with the Great Commission.  It is true for us in other ways.  While none of us are apostles, we are disciples.  God has placed us in the world and given us unto Christ.  He has a program of education and development which He is pursuing with us through the work of the Holy Spirit.  He has a grand purpose for each of us within His larger plan to advance His Kingdom.  We may feel very insignificant, yet He does not view us so.  We are members of the Body of Christ because God has given us to Him.  He will use us for His Glory.

Our most Wonderful and Wise God,
we rejoice that You have given us to Christ.
We praise You that He will continue to perform His work,
in order to conform us to His Image.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning