Living on the Run

He scratched his chin. What was Jesus saying?

John just wasn't sure. 

Jesus had been speaking on many great things for hours and hours. He and the rest of the disciples, except for the disappearing Judas, had been rapt with attention, continuously awestruck and dumbfounded by Jesus' insight and wisdom. The hot rays of the sun passed by them unnoticed, and the cool breezes of the evening came to claim it's place. John couldn't have told someone if he blinked the entire time. It all just felt like a few minutes.

He had been lost in Jesus' words, but his last statement threw him for a loop.

"I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." 

Jesus wasn't of this world?

What did that even mean?

And what did it mean when he said they weren't of this world either?

Based on John 17:14

Below is the lyric music video for TobyMac's song, "Unstoppable."

My favorite line in this song is "Not of this world so we live on the run."

Do you guys sometimes feel like we are living on the run? Persecutions, trials, and temptations seem to chase us. Sometimes we literally feel like we are on the run from it all with no place to hide. It's hard, but we tell ourselves that it's something we have to do in sometimes...

But wait. Is it possible? Should we have that mindset? Instead of feeling like we have to be on the run, should that automatically be how we live our lives on this earth? We are God's, not the world's.

"If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:19

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of you mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2

We have been told from day one that we are not of this world. So why shouldn't we live...on the run? Why shouldn't we move away from temptations and the lusts of this world? Why shouldn't we live with out eyes wide open so that we know what is and isn't of God? Why shouldn't the world hate us for being different?

Fact is, that is and how it's supposed to be while we are on this earth. We will always be running away from the world. We should be running to Jesus. We belong to God. When we have made Jesus Lord of our lives, we don't belong to the world anymore. This message wasn't about dealing with difficult times, or counting it an honor to suffer for Jesus' sake. No, this is a thought that - if you really apply it - could change how we walk. Instead of somber, dragging steps as we try to escape, we will walk with a spring in our step, as we purposely run away from all that isn't of God in this world.

Because that's how it's supposed to be.

"They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." John 17:16

We are not of this world. We were never supposed to be. So don't get comfortable. We are...on the run.

V. Joy Palmer