Not of this world

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. – John 17.16

In the middle of the section we looked at yesterday on Jesus’ prayer for us He makes a statement that we had all better be sure that we have in our heads and hearts.

When speaking of His followers Jesus said that neither He nor they were ‘of this world.’ We will look a bit more about Jesus not being of this world, but what does it mean to us that Jesus said we are ‘not of this world?’

It means that ‘this world is not our home.’ It means that our true citizenship is in heaven. It means that all we see is temporary. It means that in this world moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal. It means we have a better country.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I really battle this ‘not of this world’ truth. I find myself being consumed with the things of this world. It is not only the obvious things the lusts of the flesh and desires to have more of this world. It goes beyond that. I find myself letting my emotions being controlled by economic and political news stories. I find myself in political debates and arguments. I find my emotions affected by such silly things as how my sports teams do or how the dollar/euro is performing or how elections go.

We live in this world so it is going to have some impact – we can’t avoid that.

The problem comes when we let the world’s affairs dominate our thoughts and lives. It happens when we forget our true homeland.

Our daily goal should be that we will not set our thoughts and affections on the visible and temporary things of this world. Instead our thoughts and affections should be on the invisible and eternal things of our better country where our treasure is incorruptible and undefiled, reserved, and that will not fade away.