Tuesday, June 3, 2008

It's a Love / Hate Thing

What a turn around! Jesus is talking about us loving each other as His followers, and then in John 15:18-27 He turns the corner and starts talking about how other people will treat us outside of the Kingdom. They will hate us.

Jesus says that if we belong to the world (the system of living life that goes against God's plans), then they won't hate us. But if we follow Him, they will hate us. I have trouble with this. I'm not sure how many people hate me. I'm not sure how many people I upset for my decisions to love others, to be sacrificial, to be generous and kind and merciful.

Does that mean that I'm not following God? I believe I am, I chase after Him each day. But I'm not sure that my love upsets anyone to this level. Why? Is it that our culture still has some admiration for Christian virtues? Or is it that I have insulated myself with people who all follow Jesus, and because of that, I'm not rubbing shoulders with those who would be mad at me? I have a gut feeling it's the second issue.

What do you guys think? Does anyone hate you for how much you love God and others? What do you make of this passage? Read it, and let me know.

1 comment:

John said...

Anyone hate me for how much I love God? No way. {Worries me.} Do very many people even know I love God? Not really. {Worries me.} Definitely much more comfortable and safer surrounded by Christians, but even most of them don't have any idea of my idea of God. Guess I should interact more. Jason tries to make us, I mean encourage us. I hate that. But I keep coming back.