Grace to Make the World Better

I’m doing some Sunday morning Scripture writing. I’m up to Chapter 17 in John, and I was recording commentary for verse 15. Christ knows his work on earth is almost done, and he’s praying over his disciples that they could go forward and do the work they’re meant to do.

I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil (John 17:15).

I felt a great deal of comfort in this passage from Charles Ellicott’s commentary:

The Christian ideal is not freedom from work, but strength to do it; not freedom from temptation, but power to overcome it; not freedom from suffering, but joy in an abiding sense of the Father’s love; not absence from the world, but grace to make the world better for our presence; not holy lives driven from the world, and living apart from it, but holy lives spent in the world and leavening it.

After this week, I wanted to hide from the world, no doubt. The shooting on our campus, the anxiety that came along with that. My frustration with…everything. But on the flip-side I’ve been buoyed by the sweet sentiments of friends, the kindness of family, and the excitement of some new opportunities to work with students. I’m trying not to hide from the world but be grace-full in it.