18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
John 15:18-27
We are Called to be Holy
Paul said, “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Ephesians 1:4
Holy Means We are Separated from the World
In this passage, Jesus explained to the disciples that the world would hate them because they were not of the world. It is the characteristic of the world that whoever and whatever is different from it, not following it, would hate him. This is the difference between God and the world. Jesus teaches us to love, even those who are different, but the world teaches us to hate those who are different.
Holy Means Obeying God’s Word
Jesus came to teach the world, but His teaching was so different from what the world has taught its people. The world rejected Jesus’ teaching. We, on the other hand, have not only accepted His salvation but also His word. Even though the world has rejected Jesus’ teaching and nailed Him on the cross, Jesus has not stopped teaching the world; he sent the Holy Spirit and us to bear witness for Him. May we also have this attitude of Jesus that we would never stop witnessing to the world and the manner of the Holy Spirit that we are gentle to the world even though it hates us.
Holy Means We are Living with God
On multiple occasions, Jesus mentioned the disciples had been with Him from the beginning. This must be very precious to Him that He has said this more than once. He wants us to live with Him. So let us turn our minds to Him regularly.
I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
The world behind me, the cross before me,
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.
Raisins & Apples Bible Devotional & more 