“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” John 15:18
April 21, 2023
Have you been the recipient of hate speech? The secular world has found the word “hate” a useful way to attain the moral high ground in reordering society. It was Jesus Christ who told His disciples that they would be hated because He was hated. This is much more than being disliked. It suggests hostility to who Jesus was and why He came to this earth. We should not be surprised that there is a high cost for following Jesus Christ. Persecution takes us to the very heart of what it means to love and obey the One who was crucified by those who hated Him. Though there are different motives behind persecution, we must remind ourselves as Christians that we are to “bless those who persecute” us (Rom. 12:14). Remember what we were once, enemies of God, darkened in our minds, excluded from the life of God (Eph. 4:18). God’s response was to love us and show us grace. We should understand why the world looks at Christians the way it does. Unregenerate minds are duped by Satan and blinded to spiritual realities. Therefore, we owe them the debt of love and compassion for their spiritual condition. The Christ who the world hates is the same Christ who said on the cross, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). Being slandered, ridiculed, ostracized, being vilified on social media, loss of our job, having Christian websites hacked, and being physically abused, none of these should keep believers in Jesus Christ from blessing those who persecute us.
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“The gospel thrives on persecution. It makes better headway against a world that fights it than against a world that trifles with it. Bitter hostility is better than half-hearted endorsement.” Vance Havner