Daily Reflections · Hope When Life Hurts (Part 13) · Philippians 2:15; John 17:14–15
Hope Beyond Temptation: Staying Clean in a Corrupt Society
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God would save us and then, within a matter of seconds, take us on to glory? Wouldn’t that be a great relief? We would never have any temptations. We would never have to battle with the flesh. We would never even have the possibility of messing up our lives. We could just be whisked off to glory — saved, sanctified, glorified.
How do we keep pace with Christ in a corrupt society? Some have suggested sanctification by isolation, believing the only way to keep evil and corruption from rubbing off on us is to withdraw from the world. After all, how can you walk through a coal mine without getting dirty? The logic seems irrefutable. But God, in His infinite wisdom, has deliberately left us on this earth.
He has sovereignly chosen to give many of us more years in Christ than out of Christ — more years to live for Him “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).
As Ray Stedman succinctly puts it: “Crooked and perverse simply means we are left in a world of crooks and perverts.”
- That is the kind of world God left us in on purpose.
- The Lord has not made a mistake leaving us here.
- We are His lights in a dark world.
Remember Jesus’ prayer for His disciples before He was arrested — He prayed this for them, and for us:
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”
John 17:14–15
Think about that. “I am not asking You to take them out from the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, but I do ask You to guard them, to protect them.” Jesus does not ask the Father to isolate His disciples from the world, but:
- To insulate them,
- To keep them from the evil one.
- He has left us in the world on purpose, and for His purpose.
- In a world where the majority are going the wrong way, we are left as lights — stoplights, directional lights, illuminating lights — as living examples, as strong testimonies of the right way.
- We are spiritual light brightening the world.
Question for Reflection
Are you fulfilling God’s purpose on earth?
Shalom & Maranatha!
Hillcross Ministry