drinking by the lake taken 2003

 

Being Hated

Jn 15:18-21 Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”
This reading speaks to my heart. The true believer can expect nothing more than to be a person who when directly on the path of God will be rejected by the worldly. There is no reason for sadness or discouragement. The rejection and hatred of those who are self centered and worldly if it is done because of my love of Jesus will only bring the affirmation that I am one of God's own and living as Jesus did.

Who am I to ever think that I should not have a life that in all ways followed the model of Christ. With this comes the acceptance of the hatred which is born of ignorance that the world has for the children of God. It is one of the true tests as a Christian how will I respond to hatred. Will I be like Christ and ask God the Father to forgive those who hate me? The life in Christ is more than words and feelings and thoughts there are more levels of truth. There is the knowledge but there is also the act of truth which to me is living in love in the face of ignorance and hatred.

It helps me to know that most hatred is not intended but born of ignorance or not "right" knowing, a vision that is misdirected. To love with the full heart, mind and soul is what I was born to do and my whole action that God calls me to for my whole life. My life is not my own but God's. My call is to always and in all things to dwelling in God within my being and to act in love to all beings with the love and mercy that God has shown me throughout my life.

God has given me many gifts and I am thankful for them. Yesterday, I heard a man in a speech quote Joshua of 2000 years before Christ, who was a Jewish wisdom figure. He had said to make friends and to always when wronged by a person give that person the positive benefit of any doubt.

The response that I have to the wrongs or unfair acts that present themselves throughout a daily life are what define who I am in truth as a Christian. I pray that there be no hatred for anyone in my heart and that my acts and words be filled with the joy of God and love this day.