February 4 - Hated.

I John 3:13
“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”
 
John 15:18
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
 
Have you ever felt hated by this world? Maybe even hated by other Christians?
You are not alone. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself warns us in the Gospel of John that we will be hated by the world because it hated Him first. We are partakers of this hatred because we follow Him.
 
Think of all the martyrs that gave their lives for the cause of Christ. Many died so that we could have our Bible today. God preserved His Word through His people taking a stand amidst the hate and persecution of the world.
 
Most of the disciples died at the hands of those that hated them. Peter was crucified, and demanded to be hung upside down because he didn’t feel worthy to be crucified in the same form as Jesus gave His life. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was also crucified. Luke was hanged on an olive tree. The Romans beheaded Paul. John was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, but by miracle he exited without injury. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.
 
William Tyndale, a well-known Bible translator who produced the first translation of the New Testament from Greek to English, after 17 months in a gruesome prison finishing his work, he was strangled and burned at the stake. He is known for praying, “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes,” at his dying breath.
 
Christian, take comfort today in the fact that though the world may hate us, we are the called according to His purpose… and because of that He is working it together for our good.
 
John 16:33
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
 
 
Bible Reading:
Exodus 18-19 |  Matthew 14  |  Psalm 4