“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. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” ~ Jesus the Messiah, praying for His disciples, John 17:14-19
Jesus never blended in.
He is the ultimate iconoclast, the One who turns over “tables”, disrupting the world systems and status quo of a broken world.
His prayer for those who followed Him was, and still is, that they would be “sanctified”- a term that few really understand.
To be sanctified is to be set apart for sacred purposes, i.e., pretty much the farthest thing from blending in.
It means not to be like the world, not to do what everyone else is doing.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…” John 10:27
Jesus is the embodiment of Truth and Light, and as believers-followers-we are called to do what He did,
and according to His own words, even more than He did. (John 14:12)
He promised to send a spiritual comforter, a guarantor of sorts, the Holy Spirit,
custom made to fill each and every person who received Him as Lord and Saviour.
Sometimes it is uncomfortable not blending in (sticking out); it means that we are more noticeable.
Jesus calls each of us to be lights in an ever darkening world. The Apostle Paul (Rabbi Shaul) encourages us to imitate him,
just as he imitated Jesus. In the face of unpopularity, threats, persecutions, riots caused by haters who wanted to shut him down
(sound familiar?)
Jesus promises to be with us, and He will never ever leave us nor forsake us.
As we walk with Him, encountering the divine appointments He has scheduled for us,
people can’t help but notice that Light, that indescribable “thing” that makes you stand out.
So Beloved- Remember who you are! You were fashioned by the Father Himself to be “peculiar”;
Sanctified to be “transformers”, not conformers, as we change the world-one divine appointment at a time.