May 25, 2023
“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. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:19-20)
If we were of this world, we would be able to find love and assurance as one belonging to it. However, we do not belong to this world; we have been chosen out of it and called to a higher purpose. Because of this, we are enemies of the world.
1 Peter 4:4 gives a parallel explanation of this idea. The unbelieving world prefers selfishness and pleasure over honoring God. Part of our sinful nature is seeking approval, especially by reassuring ourselves that “other people do it, too.” The contrasting feeling is conviction, which our sin nature responds to with anger. Despite their own demands to “tolerate,” the non-believing world levies hate at Christians who don’t conform. In the modern era, biblical faith is slandered as evil, hateful, fearful, closed-minded, or ignorant – all deeply ironic and hypocritical criticisms.
The idea of being called out by God as separated people, chosen for something more honorable than sin, makes Christians offensive to the unbelieving world. The world responds with hatred and mockery when Christians don’t join in worldly sins.
Jesus asks the disciples to remember something He said recently (John 13:16). His point then was that servants are expected to do anything their master would do. Here, the point is that servants can’t expect to be treated better than their masters.
I admire Chris Pratt for his willingness to talk about his faith openly, an often taboo topic in Hollywood. People all over social media love hating Mr. Pratt for this reason. So much so that people rush to the comments to protest whenever he gets cast in anything; at the opening of one of his recent movies, he was asked if that bothers him, and he responded by saying, “It sure does, but that’s nothing new. If I were of this world, they would love me just like [one of] them, but I’ve been chosen out of this world. That’s just the way it is. It’s nothing new, and 2000 years ago, they even hated Him too.” During this answer, Pratt even cites today’s passage of scripture directly – dispelling any confusion as to what or Whom he was referring.
As the Apostle Paul writes, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Rom 12:2). Since we are not of this world, we cannot mold ourselves to fit into the contours of it. We will, of course, be hated in this generation because we’re not moving in the same direction as the rest of the crowd, but we can find comfort in the fact that our Savior was hated in His day too. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18)
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