Pam Padgett ... teacher
As we speak and do according to the word of God,
there are times that people hate and are angry with us for doing such.
The hatred may be subtle or it may be outward, but it is obvious we are
hated for what we have said or done. Jesus taught us about the hatred that comes to us from those of the world as we have been called out of the world to serve Him ...
John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me
before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love
his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I
said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have
persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my
saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do
unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
It especially stood out to me that those who hate us don't know the
Father. We often feel the hatred is against us personally. And
sometimes we are perplexed by the hatred toward us. But if we have
spoken and done according to the will of God and are hated for it, it is
because they don't know the Father Who has led us by the Holy Spirit.
Understanding this can help us not be resentment and angry with those who hate us. And it helps us forgive those who hate us, as Jesus forgave when He was crucified ... Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. ... (Luke 23:34)
While thinking about hatred and persecutions that come for doing the word of God, I was also reminded that Jesus told us to
rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for we have great reward in heaven ...
Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in
heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Comments by Joan Boney ... Sometimes we are hated even when we haven't spoken of God and haven't done anything that would cause them to hate us. I believe it is the following scripture: II Cor. 2 ... For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. The sense (or smell) death when we are around because they are not of God and we are.