“If you belonged to the world, the world would
love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.”
—John 15:19 (NRSV)
These red-lettered words written
above are written in the blood of truth. We will not find many friends in the
world—in our culture. Only those who resonate with the truth—fellow lovers of
the truth—will we befriend.
This can be an isolating
knowledge.
This fact, that we are isolated
like aliens in the world, means our strength must come from God alone, by
faith, and especially through the support of genuine Christian fellowship. To
gain strength in the Lord we must rally with those who love the truth.
Preparing for Danger in This World
I wonder if we’ve ever noticed how
dark and bizarre the world actually is. We are all sucked into its culture with
aberrant effect. We are tempted in sin and seduced into making the Gospel
message ‘relevant’, ‘pleasing’, even enticing. But if the world knew what the
Gospel consisted of—the true Gospel, which requires us to bear our crosses—it
would hate us all the more. Only those ready to proceed into the Kingdom will receive it
in joy.
It’s not God’s will for us to get
down about the world. Jesus has overcome the world. We often fail in forgetting this.
We can accept our world as
crooked, yet still be on the lookout for those open to the truth. We are to live
within optimistic realism. It is better by far for us, in preparing for danger
in this world, to congregate around some of the like-minded; those who love
truth. Being around these kind, enjoying godly fellowship, augments optimistic
realism where truth and intimacy between people may flourish. In such an
environment we can grow—by pushing each other on, in truth.
Danger in This World Is a Precursor for
Faith
God has given us the perfect tool
in dealing with our world: Faith.
When we approach life in the
Spirit’s strength, proving our personal weakness as valid for faithful living,
we are able to climb over many temptations of anger, envy, and pride, etc. This
is how we will know the presence of God in our lives: our selfish priorities
and simplistic order of logic vanish into the distance, for the surpassing
knowledge of faith. That is, that we begin to believe in those things we hope
for, but cannot yet see.
This is why the world hates us. It
does not understand. It seems illogical. They see us fight for the truth
against even our own agendas. Because the world doesn’t understand it cannot trust
us.
And to one extent this is good
news...
Living in the world actually does
us a favour. Conflict is fuel for the firing of faith:
“Faith must be tested, because it can only be
turned into a personal possession through conflict.”
—Oswald Chambers, My
Utmost for His Highest
***
We will never understand true
Christian living until we realise the world hates us. The world cannot trust a
logic it doesn’t understand. The world’s hatred should not offend Christians.
We should understand.
When we understand that faith is the method to get us through all
circumstances, then we have strength; the matchless, immutable strength of the
Lord. Faith can get us through all circumstances of conflict. By faith, alone,
we are begotten of God.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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