Hope You Are Hated [Devotional]

"The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil." In John chapter 7 Jesus is already a wanted man and this is made obvious by the fact the Jews are in hot pursuit of Jesus to kill him. It is time for the Feasts of Booths and everyone is on their way up to the feast, but Jesus is waiting and listening for his Father's voice. Jesus' brothers are enticing him to go public with his supernatural works in the town of Judea. Jesus tells his brothers that he is not going up to the Feast at this moment because it is not time for him to go. He tells his brothers that they can go up anytime they desire to go. Jesus then gives them a very striking rebuke, "The world is not able to hate you." Why was the world unable to hate them? The world did not hate them, because they were of the world. The lost man does not have to battle the world no more than a fish has to battle water. The lost man does not have to battle the world no more that a rock battles with gravity when dropped off of a ten story building. Unbelieving man simply goes wherever the world draws him to go.

Jesus on the other hand is set in an extreme contrast between his brothers and himself. Jesus is most assuredly hated by the world. Why is he hated? The world claims that everyone ought to do good and hurt no one and then we can all get along. Well there is not a person that has ever lived that has done as much good as Jesus and he is the most hated man of all history. Jesus healed people, cared for people, taught people, fed people, led people by example, loved children, and he showed compassion to the people who were hurting the most. So, why was he so hated? Jesus never had a fist fight, never stole anything, never coveted, never committed adultery, never dishonored his parent, never committed idolatry, and he never lied. Yet it is of obvious truth that the world hated him and continues to hate him. Why? "He testified about the world that its works are evil."

Dearly beloved, if you are a believer you will be hated by the world. You can be good and do well, but the world will hate anyone who tells them that their works are evil. When Christians expose the sin of the world by communicating truth the world will be hateful. The world will call you narrow minded, a bigot, a fundamentalist, a non-conformist, and they will call you unloving. This is the way it is for Jesus and it will be the same way for his followers. Stand strong for the truth this day and I pray that the world will not receive you as one of its own.

Those who have been saved have been saved for His glory and they are being made holy for this is the will of God. Are you being made holy?

Spurgeon says, "If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you to hell."

Jesus, the Lord God showed sin in your examples. In fact, in John 8, He shows us the spiritual meaning of the sixth commandment. Spiritually, it means do not falsify the Word, which the Scribes and Pharisees were doing (that's why He wrote in the earth, like at the Temple).

How can you 'convert' a person without teaching them about the Lord? A person has to reach their own conclusion and approach the Lord themselves by their own reasoning. The only thing we can do is create disciples of ALL. Love one another. No exceptions.

Yesterday, my SIL (born again evangelical) was telling me a close friend of hers from back east has serious and severe cancer and took some amount of effort to get in touch with my SIL. They were very close. When the rest of the family found out, everyone just assumed she would want to go back east to visit her sick friend.

She actually said to me "I would go, but between me and you, she doesn't know the Lord". I was just floored. This so-called self-styled 'Christian' woman won't visit a sick friend? Yet, she'll jump through hoops for my FIL when he gets sick... and it's really hard to find good within him.

Point is, the sick woman was probably reaching out to my SIL because of her religion. The Lord was giving her a chance to share her faith, but her faith is separated from charity. She can quote Scripture but doesn't actually live it and apply it to her life.

Regarding teaching the Scribes and Pharisees, the NT is full of examples of the Lord teaching just that group, like with this:

Luke 15:1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

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