We best use our spiritual gifts when we are connected with God through a personal relationship with Him, prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers. Did you know that Jesus prayed for that very thing for you and your family? What happens when you live as Jesus prayed?
How do we live out our Christianity in a fallen world?
Some people in this world think that being Christian is just a title, like any other religious title (Muslim, Hindu, etc.), and all these religions are selfish/self serving. Jesus knew pressures from other worldviews would be a struggle for Christians, and He prayed for all believers in John chapter 17. This praying took place after the final Passover meal with His disciples, just before He went to Gethsemane where He was betrayed by Judas. We will study a portion of this prayer.
I do not pray for them alone (His Disciples), but also for those who will believe in Me through their word (New Testament); that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they maybe one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
John 17: 20-23 (NIV)
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? In John chapter 14, Jesus instructs His disciples on this subject.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14: 15-25 (NIV)
Our troubles and fears in this world are temporary. Christians have everlasting/eternal love, joy, and peace with God. This eternal relationship with God is what matters, and it should show itself with love, joy, and peace between Christians.
Biblical Commentaries
Biblical commentaries are books written by Biblical scholars expressing their understanding of specific Scriptures. Below are excerpts from some commentaries on this prayer of Jesus.
The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel, by R. C. H. Lenski
(Page 1156) We believers can be one with each other only by each of us and all of us being one with the Father and Jesus. Union with God and with Christ makes us a unit in ourselves. … (Page 1157) the more we have of the Word in our hearts by faith and thus also ruling us in our lives the more perfect is our oneness. … We are as much one with each other and with God and with Christ as we believe, teach, live, and confess all that is contained in the Word.
Layman’s Bible Commentary, JOHN, Volume 18, by James E. Carter
(Page 126) The burden of his prayer was for unity. … (Page 127) But they could have a unity of purpose. … The purpose of this unity is witness: “so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. … (Page 128) Jesus had let them know that God loved them. His fullest desire was that they should know the love of God through him. The same kind of love that God showed to Jesus, Jesus had shown to them. The believers whom Jesus was leaving behind on the earth to continue and to extend his ministry would be included in the circle of love that included both the Father and the Son.
Closing Prayer
Pray for a love, joy, and peace relationship with God and with fellow believers.
Parenting today is a strange paradox: To begin with, the societal framework in which it is being executed is so riddled with conflicts and contradictions; the innate boundaries that ought to be there have been wiped away. Ultimately therefore, the paradoxical question is how do you parent children in a society that promotes libertine, liberal values that are inherently destructive? How do you successfully parent children in a society where Christianity is rapidly being abolished and where liberal values and morals are pushed and promoted virtually everywhere in the society; and those very values and morals are deadly destructive to the society and to those promoting them? Accordingly, parenting children today is virtually a lost cause. The titanic influence of popular society and psychology is so strong that they overwhelm what little Christianity that is left. In reality, good parenting is only possible in the context of clearly defined, inviolable boundaries: Paradoxically though, contemporary society is trenchantly promoting the very opposite values and giving children far too much liberty and freedom–even freedom to define their own identity, independent of their parents and to have sex and abortions outside the context of their parents’ knowledge. By all counts, such socialization is troublous and full of contradictions, stuffing the future with problems that neither society nor the ones who are promoting these destructive liberal values would be able to solve. Thus, what we are looking at is the collapse of human society, as we know it, and the end of this age. This radical brand of socialization is, by no means, sustainable, objective, and pragmatic