City Life Starter

The Word

⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

Exegesis

You may think to yourself, why would Jesus not pray for the world? Is it contradictory to passages such as 2nd Peter 3:9, “Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”? It may seem so at first glance until we realize that Jesus is truly praying for His disciples at this point. We know this because in verse 20 of chapter 17, Jesus says, “My prayer is not for them alone.” Them alone would refer to His disciples.

With this in mind, we see that Jesus has a specific prayer over His disciples, which were given to Him by the Father. Why is this so important for us? It is simply because when God gives us those He wants us to disciple, it is our responsibility to protect them as they were our very own children, given to us for nurturing and building up in faith. It is a great responsibility to lead others in their walk with God and we shouldn’t shy away from doing so, not if we want to imitate Christ.

The other point we see is that Jesus is praying for His disciples and not the world because it is the disciples who will bring the light into the world. We are all to be salt and light on this earth. The disciples began this by spreading the light of the gospel message that Jesus brought through His ministry and sacrifice on the Cross. By praying for His disciples and not the world, Jesus was in reality praying for the world to be saved through the disciples ministry. Thus, praying for others to be strong in faith, is to see them shine a brighter light, which in turn will save others and bring glory to God.

Application

Pray that God will bring someone in your life to disciple and do not take this call lightly. Seek wisdom and patience in your teaching of the Word and be open to who God may bring. At the same time, seek someone who can disciple you. We are all growing in our faith with God and need to be guided as well as guiding others. It is through our ability to lead others that Christianity will continually be the light that shines throughout the world.