Christians continue to be surprised that the world hates them. We may naively think that the world has changed since it rejected and crucified Jesus. Also, we may think that we're not enough like Jesus to be worthy of rejection and persecution. Nevertheless, we have been fundamentally changed by being baptized into Christ (see Rm 6:3). We have a new nature. As new creations (see Gal 6:15), we have been chosen out of the world by Christ (Jn 15:19). The world recognizes that we no longer belong to it. Therefore, it hates, persecutes, and tries to kill us (Jn 15:19-20; 16:2).
Although the world hates even lukewarm, sinful Christians, the Lord wants to give the world more reason to persecute us. The Lord wants to make us holy, to make us like Him. Then we are not just a potential threat to the world but we are an actual threat to turn it upside down (see Acts 17:6). Then the world feels compelled to persecute us immediately and vehemently.
Live your Baptism. Be a threat to the world. Be ever more worthy of being hated and persecuted by the world (see Mt 5:11). Be holy. Be like Jesus.
| PRAYER: | Father, make me "worthy of ill-treatment for the sake of the Name" of Jesus (Acts 5:41). |
| PROMISE: | "Through all this, the congregations grew stronger in faith and daily increased in numbers." –Acts 16:5 |
| PRAISE: | Our Lady of Fatima was credited by Pope St. John Paul II with both prophesying an assassin's attack and saving him from being killed by that attack. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College