I'm proud of those who will not associate the title with a certain Taylor Swift song, but the statement is true.
I sit convicted.
People at my work place do not hate me.
At least I assume they don't.
Or they just don't express their indwelling hatred.
Let me explain...
Yesterday's sermon at church was on John 15, a very challenging passage in Scripture.
Verse 19 says, "If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
Definition: "the world" refers to everything and everyone who is in opposition to Jesus Christ.
I have been friends with the world lately on a number of levels and it is really starting to weigh heavily on my soul.
I try hard to impress the world, to fit in, to be liked and wanted by it.
Why is that such a craving?
I'd like to use the simple answer and say that it's just because I'm human but I know that it's more complex than that because I am a human who has been saved by Jesus Christ who has overcome the world and who gives us the power to do the same.
I am met with the challenge every day to hold firm to what I believe and live it out before the world. But sometimes I mess up. I get caught up in the demands of the day and forget what my purpose is: to be a light.
But back to the haters. I know that some of the people I associate with are part of the world. They claim to believe in Jesus, but not His Word. They claim to love Jesus, but hate what the Bible says.
This is a problem. A BIG problem.
You cannot claim to believe in or love Jesus Christ because He is inseparable from Scripture. You either take all of Him and His Word, or none of it.
These people in my life I still love, despite their efforts to convince me that they are right and God is wrong. They may not hate me as a person, just what I believe.
I pray that someday they see that God is God and there is no other. That they would take Him at His Word and believe ALL of it.
I am just a human. I cannot convince another human of the truth. So I pray for mercy.
I sit convicted.
People at my work place do not hate me.
At least I assume they don't.
Or they just don't express their indwelling hatred.
Let me explain...
Yesterday's sermon at church was on John 15, a very challenging passage in Scripture.
Verse 19 says, "If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
Definition: "the world" refers to everything and everyone who is in opposition to Jesus Christ.
I have been friends with the world lately on a number of levels and it is really starting to weigh heavily on my soul.
I try hard to impress the world, to fit in, to be liked and wanted by it.
Why is that such a craving?
I'd like to use the simple answer and say that it's just because I'm human but I know that it's more complex than that because I am a human who has been saved by Jesus Christ who has overcome the world and who gives us the power to do the same.
I am met with the challenge every day to hold firm to what I believe and live it out before the world. But sometimes I mess up. I get caught up in the demands of the day and forget what my purpose is: to be a light.
But back to the haters. I know that some of the people I associate with are part of the world. They claim to believe in Jesus, but not His Word. They claim to love Jesus, but hate what the Bible says.
This is a problem. A BIG problem.
You cannot claim to believe in or love Jesus Christ because He is inseparable from Scripture. You either take all of Him and His Word, or none of it.
These people in my life I still love, despite their efforts to convince me that they are right and God is wrong. They may not hate me as a person, just what I believe.
I pray that someday they see that God is God and there is no other. That they would take Him at His Word and believe ALL of it.
I am just a human. I cannot convince another human of the truth. So I pray for mercy.
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