Christmas Countdown 2018 Day 16

It is the third Sunday of Advent and I am posting late in the day. 

Our verse is a just a short but sweet follow up to yesterday’s. 

After stating the focus of His prayer is not that His followers be spared the fire of this world…but that God would protect them in the heat of it all…He lines out the new DNA of His disciples based on His own identity. 

The are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  NKJV

I so very much love how The Message reads…

They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world. 

I love it because it puts disciples of Jesus squarely in the same category as Him – through His sanctifying work in us, mind you…

And…

for someone like me who loves words and the meaning of words and the correct use of words. 

How reassuring to hear The Word tell us…

Jesus Christ the Messiah is not defined by the world…

and neither are His followers. 

Defined…

from Latin:   definire   de + finire: to limit, end verb transitive, to fix or mark the limits of…demarcate. Set the property lines. determine or identify essential qualities. 

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 1973, G. & C. Merriam Co. 

I write this with tears of humble gratitude that God would allow us to rest on that thought on this Third Sabbath of Advent…

so let me just state the obvious one more time. 

This world does not fix or set or mark the limits of Jesus Christ.

The world does not determine or identify the essential qualities of His disciples. 

In Christ you are defined by Him and by Him alone and He calls you …friend, brother, sister, family. 

In Him there is no condemnation. 

In Him we have a new identity and it is as one who is covered by His blood. 

Who He is….we are as well. 

Rest in that truth, my friend and enjoy a restful and God-defined Sabbath <3