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Christmas Countdown 2018 Day 14

In prayer, Jesus says this to His Father…

“I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t.”  CEV

ouch….

Let’s see it from The Message…

“I gave them your word; the godless world hated them because of it, because they didn’t join in the world’s ways, just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.”

hmmmm….

any brighter perspective in the NKJV?

“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.”

Wow.

Ok.

So basically this flies in the face of every time we ever assumed that if we can just master the right technique to share the Gospel; both Jesus and we, ourselves, will be wildly popular and deeply cherished by all the folks we encounter on the journey. 

And it flips our modern day approach to evangelism that says we certainly don’t want to offend anyone when we share the Gospel, and if we are not liked by those we share our testimony with, we must be doing it the wrong way. 

Instead, it clearly puts us in the camp of being “hated” by some people just because we have aligned ourselves first and foremost as followers of Christ.

And I wonder how many would commit themselves to Christ based on this recruiting speech…

“Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men…some of whom will hate you so much they will want to kill you because they hate Me.”

Well yes, sign me and my children up for that, please.

But when you have finally and genuinely and sincerely accepted Christ as the Way and the Truth and the Life…you understand that what others think does not matter. 

You get the fire in your spirit to share even if you aren’t loved.

You find the grace and mercy of the One who rescued you and in that place you can pray for those who hate  you…and love when you are not loved back. 

You weep when you see the hatred for Jesus and you press on.

Because a Saul might just be a Paul…and a Peter who denies Christ might just be the one who spends out his days proclaiming Him to his last breath. 

A woman bound by multiple demons can become one who is so free she can no longer care what others think as she pours out her love for Him in grateful tears. 

Because when you love Jesus…really love Him…what the world thinks of you no longer matters and the passion that drives you is that He…God…so loved the world…that He sent His only Son…that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but would have eternal life…and this is eternal life…that we would KNOW Him…so today would you set aside your concerns of what others think and would you ask God to give you His heart to pray for those who do not yet know His love for them? 

Will you choose to share the Gospel with a world that may hate you because it hates Him?

Be blessed today in your prayers and as you follow hard after the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ <3

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