"Holiness in the World..."

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:14-17

Twice Jesus says that His followers are not of this world. He says that the world hates them. He prays that they would be kept from the Evil One. He is sending them into the world. He prays for their holiness IN the world not OUT of it.

For centuries people who have wanted to be holy have assumed that they had to get away from the world in order to accomplish this. This involved monasteries, convents, hermits, etc…. Today it will be in communes, separated and legalistic churches.

(Taken from Day & Night, 2005)

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Roots by the River

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