LEARNING DAILY

 

John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that the light came into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.”  Jesus

 

I read a devotional a while back titled, Why is Jesus So Hated?  I am reading a book by Joseph Farah titled The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament.  So far, I have found no Old Testament reason given as to why Jesus would be hated.  On the contrary the Old Testament gives promise after promise of why Jesus, the Messiah, should have been welcomed; every Jewish person should have been very excited that He had come – including the religious leaders!  Did He not come to heal those who needed to be healed, open the eyes of the blind, and deliver people from their slavery to sin?  I cannot help believing these are all good things!

 

I grew up going to church and Sunday School. We had a fun youth group that met late on Sunday afternoon.  I went because my friends went and I enjoyed terrorizing the Sunday School teachers.  Even after we were married, we went to church and Sunday School because it was the thing to do; we went to the same church as our friends.  I was walking in darkness during those days because there was no relationship with Jesus Christ – just going through the motions. 

 

John 3:19 above gives the fundamental problem I had and the problem that people in Jesus’ time on earth and people living today who hate Jesus.  We simply loved the darkness more that the light that Jesus brings.  Put simply: they find their happiness and pleasure in sin and immorality.  The religious leaders of Jesus’ time on earth did not want to give up the authority, the power they had.  So, they did all they could to trap Him into saying something wrong so they could have Him punished.  The crowds followed Him because He fed them and when He confronted them, they left.  Can you think of reasons for people attend church who have never given their life to Him?  I guess people are no different today that when Jesus walked on the earth.

 

Today, people say that following Jesus is too restrictive believing that Christianity is a form of bondage.  The world offers all sorts of excuses to not follow Jesus today; it still comes down to loving the darkness, loving sin and loving immorality.  Hating Jesus has turned into hating anything and anyone associated with following Him.  Jesus did warn His followers in John 15:19, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  In other words, because God called you out of your worldly living by forgiving your past, present, and future sins through Jesus Christ, you will never be loved or accepted by those living in the world (those without Jesus in their life). 

 

When a person truly gives their life to Christ, they love righteousness and hate wickedness.  They even mourn (Blessed are those who mourn…) when they see unrighteous activities when they see it.  Look around.  Do you see the unrighteous acts and conduct openly done in our society.  Sadly, the world will remain indifferent to and remain an enemy of the followers of Christ even until the end of the age.  The response of all Christians is to be light in the darkness. 

 

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