06/20/2018
If you are a Christian, and a true believer, then those in the world will hate you. They will dislike you because you are different... because you are a new creation, but most of all because you are like Jesus Christ, and by that I mean “not of this world.” We know this to be the case because we hear it in a conversation (prayer) between Jesus and God Himself.
“"I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.”
John 17:6-8 ESV
Jesus has given us God’s Words, but having them is not enough... we must keep them, or in another way of saying this, we must obey and do them. When we go beyond just hearing God’s Words, and begin to do them, then something remarkable happens within us... we become new creations and are separated from the world. At that moment we are despised by those who are without what we have come to know.
“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
John 17:14 ESV
When I was young I made best friends with a boy two houses away. My friend’s name was Gino Palm, and he was deaf and mute. Gino was exceptional, and not just because of his disabilities, but because he was incredibly bright, and one of the kindest and most humble boys I had ever known. He didn’t wait until he knew you before he loved you, but loved you from the moment he became acquainted with you. This was my friend, and who he was set him apart from every other boy in our neighborhood... yet they hated him for it. Some of them hated him because he was different and his difference made him vulnerable, but others disliked him because his intelligence and loving nature made them feel less. Disliking someone because they make you feel less is just another manifestation of jealousy, but it also upsets the Apple cart; it changes the norm... it raises the bar.
I was Gino’s protector. I had been raised around the other boys in my neighborhood and could physically hold my own against any two of them, and yet before I met my friend I had given myself to Jesus Christ. Looking back on those times I realize that I was a half breed. I was a child of God, and yet I was still close enough to my old life that I could step back into it when threatened. Unlike Gino, who was completely humble, and totally of a different heart, I was just learning what that meant, and it would take me years before I could understand fully the nature of love and humility.
So when the other boys picked on Gino I stepped in, and occasionally that meant doing something totally foreign to Gino... I had to fight, and when I did this it really upset my friend. He was more comfortable with enduring the bullying than in seeing his friend end it by aggression. At the time, that confused me, because fighting, although it was the last resort, was the natural way in my neighborhood of settling a conflict that couldn’t be settled otherwise. Gino gave me a lesson in humility, and although I haven’t seen him since childhood, I have often wondered about the man he became, and I have wanted to thank him for teaching me restraint, and for beginning me down a road to humility... which I have found is a long road.
Keeping God’s Word. It sets us apart, and it leads us to be despised by the world around us... it makes us different, and that is either perceived to be a threat, or an opportunity by those who don’t know Jesus Christ. It makes us a lot like Gino. We don’t speak like those around us, we don’t hear the anger or and foul language, and from this vantage point we can love people who, before we lost our senses, we could not have loved. Jesus looks beyond our outward selves to see our hearts, and He speaks to us there. He communicates with us in a way that the world finds foreign... threatening... or a weakness to be exploited.
I spoke with Gino by writing notes. We carried a small notebook around with us and when we didn’t intuitively know what the other wanted to communicate we used the notebook as a means of understanding one another. In our faith we have ways to communicate too, God speaks to us through His written Word, and then, when more is required, we have impromptu conversation in Prayer. By knowing the Word that Jesus has given us we understand without speaking, but when further clarification is needed we go to Prayer.
It is interesting, but I was closer to Gino than most of my other friends, and it wasn’t in spite of the way we communicated, but because of it. We had to work hard at understanding one another, and the more we knew each other’s likes, dislikes, and personalities the less we had to write down. This led us to be observant and sensitive to the nuances of one another... it forced us to develop relationship.
So as we look at our faith there are some things to glean from these previous verses, and my relationship with Gino. The first is that when we accept Jesus, and believe in God, we will not only become different, but the world will treat us differently. We will be despised because of it. We will be hated because we are perceived to be weak, and sometimes because we are thought to be greater. Secondly we will find humility in our conversion. It won’t come suddenly, and for a while we will be half breeds, but it will eventually change us completely. Third, we learn that the Word is not enough... we need to live it. Just as Gino lived within his humility, we must come to live ours, and in this way love manifests itself within us. Then finally, we need to understand that God is with us, and will not let more harm than we can endure come to us, and our small portion of faith will become an enormity in righteousness through our deepening relationship with Him.
“You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”
Luke 21:17-19 ESV
Are we ready to lose our voices, and our hearing as we pick up the mantle of humility and love? Are we ready to be hated by the world in order that we find deeper love? Can we accept the actions of a half breed who comes in innocent ignorance to our defense, and then help him along the way as he struggles to apply his faith? In understanding these things we are continually made different, and through them the world will come to hate us more, but in so doing we will be saved.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Word, and your Son Jesus Christ who lived it fully. Thank you for giving Jesus that Word, and allowing Him to bring it to us. Thank you Father for the hatred of the world because by it we come to understand that we have been made different in you. We thank you for all of the lessons that set us apart, and that continue leading us to be like Jesus. Help us Merciful Lord as we travel the way from worldly to righteous, and allow us the strength in our humility to endure what the world will bring against us as we seek to know you better. We pray for those who despise us Father, and ask that you call to them in a voice that can’t be denied... lead them to you Holy Father so that through your Son Jesus they can find salvation by becoming different, even as we are becoming different. Your Mercy and Grace abound through the life of Jesus, and we seek to glorify you by becoming as He is. Lead us Father and hear us call out Holy, Holy, Holy are you my God, the giver of the Word, and the Truth in my life.
“and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Matthew 10:22 ESV
Rich Forbes