Scripture in Action

Aneel Aranha is an author, preacher, and evangelist who has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. You can find a huge selection of his reflections, articles, sermons, songs and other resources on his app.

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Scripture in Action

John 15:18-21 — Love and Hate

April 23, 2024 • Aneel Aranha • Season 2 • Episode 143

0:00 | 3:46

In John 15:18-21, Jesus warns his followers that the world will hate them because they are different, but calls them to respond with love.

John 15:18-21 — Love and Hate — Aneel Aranha

Hello and welcome to the Bite-Sized Gospel. Today, we will reflect on John 15:18-21. Listen.

[Jesus said:] “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”

Over the last few days, we have listened to Jesus telling us to love everybody as he loves us. This, as we saw, is with a love that is unconditional, forgiving, and self-sacrificing. Today, he says that many of these people we are told to love will hate us. Can you imagine that? We are going to receive hate in return for love! And I can’t help but wonder how many among us are okay with this. Are you all right with this? Be honest. Are you?

A couple of days ago, a very dear friend told me that she thought the idea of loving an offender was farfetched. I suspect many of us agree with her, although we will make all the right noises outwardly. Please don’t. There is no need to pretend we are nobler than we are. Because when we do, God can’t work with us. Better to say, “Dear God, this person has hurt me very badly. I want to hurt him back. How can I possibly love him? Please help me!”

And if we don’t close our minds, because he will say things to us that we may not want to hear; and if we don’t harden our hearts, because he will pour his love into it, he WILL help us. But I am sure we have another question. Why would the world hate us? Because we are different. We are, as Scripture says, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation”; we are “a people that have moved out of the darkness into the light” (see 1 Peter 2:9).

And “everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (John 3:20). Think about all the rubbish that has been happening in the world, especially lately, and you will see evil staring you right in the face. The secular world has managed to invert the box of morality, making what is bad good and making what is good bad.

For just one example, consider abortion. This is cold-blooded murder. But the world says it is okay. So, when the REAL Christian calls it for what it is — murder and the murder of a child by its own mother, at that — then, quite obviously, they will be hated. What do you expect? So, then, you ask: And I am supposed to love these guys who hate me? Yes! Because they don't know what they do! And the only thing that can make them see sense, the only thing that can change them, is love.

So, does the world hate you? If they don’t, maybe you need to ask why.

God bless you.