It's good to be hated

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."  John 15:18-19

When I read these words that Jesus spoke, I tend to think it only pertains to those fellow Christians that have to meet underground for worship and study or the ones who wrote symbols in the sand to identify one another so as to not be found out and possibly brought to death; the ones who live in dangerous countries where there is no freedom of religion and Christianity is illegal.  The "world" they live in surely hates them but I never experienced that in my own life...until I opened my eyes a little wider.

All around me, if I step outside my safety circle of likeminded Christian friends (and I say likeminded because even some Christians I know disagree with some of Christ's teachings if it doesn't suit them) I am being tested in my faith by a world that hates me.  I don't know about you, but I don't like being hated.  And even I, at times, hate doing the very thing I so strongly believe in because I'd rather be angry with my husband who hasn't done _______ (you feel in the blank) and while I am at it, let's throw the kitchen sink into that argument too or curse the man who decided to cut me off at an intersection.  I don't want to act like Christ in those moments, do you?

 I realize that the "world" isn't just those around us who continue to push us so hard that we honestly have to fight to show the characterics of Christ, but it's also our flesh that happens to hate the very thing that Christ is doing to our hearts and the Christ within us hates what our flesh desires and sometimes does.  I believe this is why we so refreshingly recall Paul's words from Romans when he says "For what I want to do, I do not do but what I hate, I do..."  It comforts us to know that we aren't the only ones who struggle with this dark war that rages in hidden places and sometimes, not so hidden.

The world will hate us, because it first hated Christ.  Take heart!  When we are bumped up against by another who challenges our faith and/or the actions that come from our faith or just pecks at us constantly to see if we will eventually stumble, know that Christ himself faced the very same thing.  For example, when Peter told Christ he couldn't let him be crucified, Jesus had the discernment to say to his friend, "Get thee behind me Satan."  He knew what his actions had to be because of his love for the Father even when his friend hated the idea.  And though it is no fun at all being hated, know that it is Satan in the world that hates you and count it all joy because your creator, the one who finds you worthy, loves you more than you can fathom.  Carry His name with pride.  You are His chosen one!  Hate may be a strong word but in this instance...It's good to be hated.