Thoughts for the Day

‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ... I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name, so that they may be one, as we are one... While I was with them, I protected them in your name....  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

What is it about the Christian faith that first attracts us? Perhaps it's a story from the Bible, or something about another Christian that attracts us. The Holy Spirit is at work at this point moving us towards God. Often when we look back we can see how we're growing in faith and how we're changing just as we can see how the disciples changed after Jesus left them.

In this passage from John's Gospel, today, we can Jesus praying that the disciples will be protected from the evil one. Christians are not safe from evil ever, just because we have faith in God, indeed perhaps because of our faith, we can attract it. Evil can come in all sorts of ways, from being led along wrong paths to being submerged by the things of this world.

Ultimately, we should follow the example of Jesus' and develop a deep relationship with our Heavenly Father and stay in constant contact through prayer, for ourselves and for our world.

Heavenly Father,
You call us to Yourself
if only we will listen;
and You seek to show Your love for us
if only we will ask for forgiveness.
May we learn to talk to You
daily, even hourly,
for ourselves and others.
and grow ever closer to You.
Amen.