Jesus was straightforward with his disciples when He spoke about the type of life they would face once they declared being His followers.
He spoke about heavenly rewards that will be given to God’s children. At the same time, He did not avoid talking about what they would face once they decided to follow Him. The Gospel of John records Jesus as saying the world will HATE His followers. The Greek word used implies being detested to the point of persecution. Knowing this, we must ensure that we do not hate those in the world.
It difficult to comprehend how spreading the Gospel can lead to hatred. We know Jesus often spoke of God’s love for His children. He also mentioned several times that we are to love our neighbour as ourselves. So, where does the hate come from? Jesus’ teachings go against human instincts, against killing, abusing, making a profit, and so on. He spoke against the things that drive this world today.
God has stated that He is against sin, against anything offensive or causes harm to us, to other humans and God. We must speak the truth, but the fear of offending someone may interfere with our relationship with God. We can worry about “political correctness” to the point that we could stop sharing the truth. We point people to Jesus and scripture because the Holy Spirit prepares them. We can be offended by sin, and as the expression goes, we can hate the sin, but we must not hate the sinner. We are not called to condone or accept behaviour contrary to God’s plan. We must trust the Holy Spirit to help the unsaved see sin as offensive while we love them with our words and lifestyle.
Pray that you can be an example to others by asking the Holy Spirit to help you love others. Pray for strength to live in the world and ask God to protect you from the pressure to compromise your beliefs. Pray and ask God to use you to share His love.