Today’s Reading is the Intercessory Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. An aspect He makes clear which is often downplayed in our daily dealings is the call to assignment. All of us are called to carry out one assignment or the other. In each case there is always an Assignor (the person giving the mandate), Assignee (the person to whom the mandate is given) and the Assignment itself (the instruction/mandate given to carry out). These three components are essential if we are to be accounted as worthy servants. The assignee should not only comply to the orders given but also carry out the assignment without any turning away.

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The Assignor in this passage is called “Father” by the Assignee, Jesus Christ (John 17:1). The Father gave Jesus, “authority over all flesh” (John 17:2). Authority given to “all flesh” covers all race, tribes, nations and regions; no person in this world is too sophisticated or remotely placed for the authority the Father has given to Jesus. The content of the Father’s message to His Son Jesus Christ is straightforward- “know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent.” The question is not whether one knows a god or several gods, but whether one knows the only True God. We should not be mistaken here- we can know “about” the True God without “knowing” Him- these are two different things. Our focus must be on knowing the True GOD!—not a god/gods. Dear reader, knowing the One True Living God is all we need- nothing else can suffice.

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Jesus said (in John 17:6) “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to me and they have kept Your word.” As said earlier, each of us has an assignment to carry out with due diligence and instructions given. We are not carrying out our own self-imposed assignment but someone’s. Here Jesus knew his target group allocated to Him by the Assignor to whom “He manifested the Father’s name.” Jesus said, “for I have given them the words which You have given Me and they have received them and have known surely that I came from You and they have believed that You sent Me” (John 17:8). He has carried out the Father’s Assignment in totality. It wasn’t a part performance or partial obedience in doing the task; the Father gave the message to the Son and the Son understood its content and carried it out fully.

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It is inexcusable to think that you are not part of those given to the Son by Father God. You too will come under the great number of “assignees,” as soon as you decide to accept the message of the Assignor (God the Father), through his Assignee (the Son Jesus Christ) and the Assignment of knowing the true God. Do this today and experience a new and lasting life relationship with God which cannot be broken.

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Other than the assignment of knowing God and making Him known, there ae other assignments He gives to further His Kingdom. Could we pause and think of the number of God-given assignments that we have received; how faithful we were and how determined we were to complete them? If we have failed in that area, let us decide to make it our duty to carry out those assignments in the way and manner expected of us.

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Thought for the Day:

“Beginning well is a momentary thing; finishing well is a lifelong thing.” 
- Ravi Zacharias