Are You Shocked?

1 John 3:13
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

Are you shocked that the world doesn't want the hear about Christ? One of the funniest things to me is when Christians get irritated because the world doesn't want to hear them. Are we really confused about this? Read this slowly... It's not you they don't like, it's your love for Jesus Christ. It's not your belief that is not accepted, it's the law of God. We, Christians, spend way too much time upset about people not liking us. We should understand that the world hated Christ and they will hate you.

I went to school at Mortimer Jordan High School. I'll never forget hearing all the war stories of the man who was the principal there. "Oh, he is so strict. You're not gonna like him at all. He runs a tight ship", they would say. I remember one parent telling me that it was where they sent the students for correction, kinda like a prison. So needless to say when I arrived I was dreading it.

I remember hearing his voice in the hallway for the first time. He called me out by "Little Nacho". He said, "Son, you need to tuck that shirt tail in." I'll have to admit that I really didn't like him very much in my first years of high school. I was in sin and lost. I was doing my own thing and didn't want anyone telling me what to do. Although I used to say, "I hate this school and can't wait to get out." It never bothered or swayed him. He knew that people didn't like him because of his ways, but he never let that bother him. He loved us. He truly loved us. I'll never ever forget the day I was saved and starting my Senior year as a brand new Child of God. My look toward him was so different. I began to realize that he loved me. That he always had loved me. I understood his love for me and the other students and in turn, showed my love toward him (and still do).

If he would have let my anger toward him lead him to be angry toward me, he would have never instructed me. But because he realized that everyone is not going to like him or his moral stands, he didn't let it stop him. Too many today have quit standing for holiness because people don't like it. Let me say it again... They are not ever going to like it because their deeds are evil and they are in darkness. Stop shaking your head and marveling that this world doesn't like you or even hates you. They hated Jesus and He is the only one that has ever truly and unconditionally loved them.