Devotional: Hated Jesus John 15:18-27

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you” (Jn. 15:18, NASB).

As a child growing up I often heard my mother making this statement: “People think that they are going to make it to heaven on flowery beds of ease.” Mom said this because she often heard people complaining about the hardships that come to those that want to obey Jesus and go to heaven to see Him. Mom was also aware that people often used hardships as an excuse to do things that they knew to be wrong. In those days it seemed to me that a lot of people believed that once you become a Christian your life will become easier. God will move everything out of the way so that you can enjoy life. This is not the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus teaches His disciples that they can expect opposition and stumbling blocks from the world. Jesus states the reason. He says, “‘If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you’” (Jn. 15:19, NASB). No, the road to heaven is not like a modern paved highway. Yes, the road to heaven is like a backwoods country road. There are curves and steep hills. There are rocks and large and deep holes in the road. Since we are travelling the same road that Jesus traveled we can expect to encounter the same hardships that He encountered.

We can have peace as we travel this road. The apostle Paul expresses his attitude about traveling the Christian road. He writes: “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8, NASB). Like Paul we can face all opposition because we have peace in knowing that in Christ Jesus we are made righteous before God. Jesus makes us righteous before God. Jesus gives us peace as we travel the difficult road to the Father in heaven.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we claim the peace that you give to us as we face hardships on our journey to heaven. Amen.