March 26, 2026 | Be Connected
Jesus Warns about the World's Hatred
Scripture: John 15:18-16:4(NIV)
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,
Devotional
As I read through these passages I was reminded of when I was a teen and experienced rejection for being different. I wasn’t different because of how I looked or dressed. I was different because I chose to be “good”. By this I mean, I liked to do what I thought God wanted me to (Trust me I’m not perfect). I’m a preacher’s kid, but my parents made it clear that I was not good because my dad was a preacher, but because God asked me to be good. This made sense to me, and I grew up knowing God loved me. I always knew I had my family and Jesus on my side.
When my friends began to smoke, drink, date and explore their sexuality. I didn’t. I believed that God didn’t want me to. And all this made me different. It also made me someone parents held up as an example. And what kid wants to be AN example, and who wants to hear about it. The result, I was ostracized, not in quiet ways, but in “in your face” ways. Others made fun of me and made untrue accusations in public and left me out of outings. It was a lonely time, but it strengthened me. Thankfully we attended a church with a strong youth group, and this group of people supported me through this time.
John & Jesus are saying just that. Being a Christian makes us different than the rest of the World, and the World hates different. Just watch TV ads, look at social media and “influencers”. What is it they all want from us? To be the same as them.
If you watch the news on TV, you will see the hatred of the world. You will be told that you need to be afraid of others, of people who are “different” from you. ‘Doing so will mean you believe what they do and then you will be ok. Otherwise, you need to “hate” those who disagree with you, who look different than you, who act different than you.
But why? What does hate bring us but fear? John is telling us that we need to accept up front that being Christian is about being different. Others will persecute and hate us. However, the gain is greater than the loss. While the world may hate you, now and eternity with God are the prize. You will find other Christians who support you. Do you hide your faith from those outside the church to avoid persecution? Ask God for the strength to be different, it is its own reward.
