‘You Gave Them To Me’

’You Gave Them to Me’

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

John 17:6

Because God has created us, we are His.  Out of the mass of humanity, He has separated certain people to perform specific tasks.  While, on the one hand we could say that He has a specific purpose for each individual, we have to recognize that He has set aside certain people to perform tasks which are unique.  This was the lot of the disciples.  Christ understood this and articulated it in His prayer.  He says, of the disciples, ‘They were Yours, You gave them to Me.’  It would be these eleven disciples who would witness Christ’s Passion and death.  They would see Him after He had arisen from the dead.  As they gathered on the Mount of Olives, they would behold Him ascend back into heaven with the promise that He would come again in like manner.  After the Holy Spirit filled them on the Day of Pentecost, they went forth to ‘cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.’  They would ‘turn the world upside down’ and continue to preach Christ until each of them died a martyr’s death.  So thoroughly would the Holy Spirit make use of them, that it would have an impact upon all of humanity for all of history.  This was God’s purpose for them and the reason He gave them to Christ.  God has given us to Christ for some purpose as well.  He will show us that purpose and lead us to glorify Him by doing His Will.

Our Great and Gracious God,
we praise You that You have given us to Christ.
We rejoice that by His Holy Spirit,
He will lead us into all truth,
that we may do Your Will.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning