That terrible zone of confusion so evident in the whole life of the Christian community could be cleared up in one day if the followers of Christ would begin to follow Christ instead of each other. For our Lord was very plain in His teaching about the believer and the world.
On one occasion, after receiving unsolicited and carnal advice from sincere but unenlightened brethren, our Lord replied, “My time is not yet come: but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.” He identified His fleshly brethren with the world and said that they and He were of two different spirits. The world hated Him but could not hate them because it could not hate itself. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Adam’s house must remain loyal to itself or it will tear itself apart. Though the sons of the flesh may quarrel among themselves they are at bottom one with each other. It is when the Spirit of God comes in that an alien element has entered. “If the world hate you,” said the Lord to His disciples, “ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 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.” Paul explained to the Galatians the difference between the bond child and the free: “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” (Galatians 4:29).
Verse
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. John 15:18
Thought
That terrible zone of confusion so evident in the whole life of the Christian community could be cleared up in one day if the followers of Christ would begin to follow Christ instead of each other.
Prayer
Give us strength, Kind Father, to turn our backs on this world and to turn our hearts and minds completely to You.