A heart issue <3
As I have revisited the passages of John 14-17 this week, I am just grabbing verses that jump out to me and either move my heart or cause me to stop and want to think more deeply.
Today I am focusing on the passages following all the Remain in Me and I will remain in you things from yesterday. All of these are so heart warming and encouraging, but in verses 18 – 25 of Chapter 15 the tone changes dramatically.
In these verses, Jesus speaks to His followers about persecution and being hated. He reminds His friends how He has been hated and how this will be the case for them as well. Because they, and because we, are friends of Jesus, the world system that denies God finds us hateful.
He is warning them that after He leaves the earth, this hatred will continue and even escalate as the Church grows. In verse 1 of Chapter 16 Jesus says, “I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling.”
I think we need to read these passages ourselves, often, to remember that He told us we would be persecuted and hated and unpopular in following Him. Being received with hatred because of what we know to be true is deeply painful.
There are very few of us who are able to be rejected, even if it is for Jesus, and not feel the sting. Often the pain causes us to become vindictive, bitter, caustic, confrontational or just shut down and avoid any chance that we will have to encounter it.
Both choices: fight or flight, in the face of persecution that was predicted by Jesus, are stumbling blocks. One exhibits an angry and prideful heart and one exhibits a cold and hardened heart. With the anger and fighting against those who persecute us, and with the closing off our hearts to avoid the conflict, we will fail to testify to who He is and what He has done for us and for the world.
It is interesting to note that the last thing He says before the warning of persecution is a reminder to his followers of the importance of loving one another. On the heels of all the remaining and abiding and staying and being attached to the Vine, He emphasizes the need for us to love one another.
I believe He is speaking here to the Body of Christ.
We know from other verses that we are to love everyone as God has loved us, but here He is speaking directly to the necessity of us to love each other within the fellowship of the Body of Christ.
I read in my devotions another warning about love and hate that comes as the end of this world draws closer. Matthew 24:10-13 talks about how many will fall away from the faith and hate one another. It says that as lawlessness increases the hearts of many will grow cold.
Reflecting on this, I can see where I need to be reminded to be watchful and diligent in my heart to choose love towards fellow believers. I see the significance of the instructions about remaining closely attached to Jesus, receiving spiritual nourishment for growth from Him and understanding that God is cutting away things to help the be a focused growth of fruit bearing.
From there, I am to obey the command to love my brothers and sisters in Christ, wherever they are in the process and then to remember that this will not earn me popularity or love from those who deny God and hate His teachings.
Knowing this helps guard my heart from taking on a protectice/reactive stance and allows me to remember that God so loved the world…that He gave His only Son…and so as He did for me, He desires to do for everyone.
Even those who hate Him and hate me because of Him. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God does not want anyone to perish, to be lost from Him, but that He desires for all hearts to be changed and for all to come to repentance and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
So when we are hated and persecuted, the example set for us by Jesus and by the early followers, is one of love and compassion for those who persecute us. It is not easy, by any means.
It starts with remaining attached to Him, loving our brothers and sisters in Christ and then guarding our hearts so that we do not stumble. By loving those who are in the Body, we strengthen our hearts to remain soft.
We can be so thankful for the power, counsel and comfort of the Holy Spirit as we pray for our hearts to remain faithful to Him who said, when He was persecuted, “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”