What does the world think of you?


Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©


"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
(John 15:18 (NIV))


It is easy to forget this fact when you look at when we celebrate His birth, but we are at the time of year when we remember His crucifixion and His resurrection three days later.

Think about His crucifixion and what led Jesus to the cross.

It is true that God's love led Jesus to the cross.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(John 3:16-18 (NIV))

It was God's plan, but it was brought about by hatred from the enemy and from the world. It was hatred that saw Jesus arrested. It was hatred that saw Jesus scourged. It was hatred that saw Jesus crucified.

It was love that kept Him on the path set out before Him. It was love that enabled Him to suffer and die so that He could overcome the power of sin and death. It was love for a creation that rejected Him that allowed Him to turn that hatred and rejection into the very thing that would overcome the power of sin and death.

It was the plan of redemption from long ago.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
(John 1:1-5 (NIV))

As believers, we tend to overlook the fact that the world hated Jesus. We definitely overlook the fact that because we profess a faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, the world also hates us as well.

I don't care what the world thinks of me!

I don't belong to the world!

I belong to Jesus!

What about you?

What does the world think of you?


Copyright 1998 - 2024 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org