Good morning. Jesus
continues: but now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that
they may have My joy make full in themselves. It is not a joy because of; but
rather a joy in spite of. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated
them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The
word separates us from the world. If we follow the word, we will come into
conflict with the people of the world. It would be bad enough that they do not
want to follow the word; but they deliberately oppose those who do. I do not
ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. If
we wanted to keep our children safe, we would remove them from the situation
where they might get harmed; but God deliberately keeps us in this world so
that we can share His gospel with the people in the world. The word “one“ is in
italics meaning that it is not actually written in the original. The word “the“
is in the original. You would not normally say keep someone from the evil, but
rather just plain evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. Remember the song “this world is not my home, I’m just a passing
through“. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. Jesus had told them
earlier, if they continued in His word, then they were truly disciples of His,
and they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free. Jesus did
just the opposite of Jack Nicholson, “you can’t handle the truth“. Father thank
You that You gave us the truth of Your word in order to sanctify us. Help us to
walk in the truth in order to be sanctified. Help the reader to have a great
time with his/her family.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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