John 15 continued

The rest of this chapter brought back some rough memories for me of my teenage years. I began my teenage years as a very strong and independent young woman. I remember always standing up for God. Back when we had AIM (AOL instant messenger) I used to go into the chat rooms and witness to people all the time. I knew who I was on Christ and nothing could sway me. Somewhere along the line that all changed. I began to see things differently and I didn't care of what I was doing was wrong or right. I think a lot of it had to do with my rebellious attitude and a lot of it had to do with peer pressure. Jesus tells his disciples in this Chapter that if the world hates us, we must be doing something right. But if the world loves us, that's when we need to recalculate the time we spend daily with God because if the world can absolutely love us 100% then we aren't doing something right. He also said that when the world hates us, to remember that the world hated him first. We should be okay when we face opposition because that's when we know we are doing something right. There were many times as a young girl that I was made fun of for my beliefs. Many times I was ridiculed. Once I got into college I began to change my life around once again and I was ridiculed in a college classroom for taking a stand against something that was mentioned about the Bible. I was laughed at by an entire class along with my professor. I was called an idiot in class because my teacher called the biblical story of Noah's ark "made-up" and I rolled my eyes and shook my head. He saw me and said, "If you don't believe it is a fictional story then you're an idiot." So I said all of that to say that The world hates us because we are different. When people are different, they stand out and most of the time they are a threat to others who are "normal" by societies standards. So don't be afraid to be different. Jesus was different! Praying for you all!