Jn.15:18-21 - “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 the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is 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.” I don’t want to live my life, like the pharisees did, seeking the praise of men rather than the praise of God (Jn.12:43). This is culminating in a growing personal and ministry conviction: I don’t want to live for or seek the praise of men, held captive by a fear of man, instead I want to live my life expecting the world to hate and persecute me (2 Tim.3:12), realizing that to the world I, because of my Savior, am the aroma of death (2 Cor.2:15-16) to their ambitions, desires and selfish lifestyles. I want to acknowledge and affirm through my life, choices and actions that the world is not worth loving (1 Jn.2:15-17) but only my Father is and it is His approval I seek daily, anticipating the day when I will see Him face to face and hear Him say, “well done good and faithful servant” (Mt.25:23). God teach me to live my life daily based on that conviction.
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