“Wanna get away?” That slogan from Southwest Airlines sounds very appropriate on just about any day of 2020, doesn’t it? “Wanna get away?” Yes! We want to get as far away from this world as we can. Can we take a plane to another planet? At least to a Caribbean island! We want to get away from the pandemic, from the bitterness, from the disasters, from the violence, from the unrest, from the hatred, from the election, from the… “Wanna get away?” Absolutely!
Jesus has other plans. If Jesus had wanted you to get away from this world right now, you would already be home in heaven. Clearly, it’s not his will yet for us to get away. Why not? Listen to what Jesus prayed for his disciples: “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” (John 17:15-16).
Jesus wants Christians to be in the world. He wants believers in Jesus to be mixed in with all the sin and chaos. Because he wants his Word to spread. He wants his lights—us!—to shine. He wants believers to testify to his love and grace, even in the darkest, most difficult moments. So Jesus asks God the Father not to take believers out of the world. Instead, he asks God to protect his people from the devil and his temptations. And he asks God that believers would be in the world, but not of it.
Right now is not the time for Christians to get away. It’s time for Christians to share God’s truth. To point to Jesus’ hope. To testify to God’s grace. Don’t worry, when it’s God’s time he’ll do way better than Southwest Airlines. He’ll whisk you right to heaven by faith in Jesus. You’ll enjoy paradise with Jesus forever. Right now, however, may God protect us from the evil one, as we are in the world but not of it.
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