Christian Devotional – June 14, 2022

The One Jesus Loved, Day 9

People may not like you. This may come as a surprise, but following Christ doesn’t mean that people will like you. In fact, some people may actually hate you. Read 1 John 3:11-14

John is discussing the importance of loving people in these verses, because loving others is what sets Christians apart from those who do not know Christ. The world is full of hate. We see that prevalent throughout our society these days as hate is rampant, especially across social media platforms.

John is reminding the disciples that the quality that sticks out and makes other people realize that we are Christ followers is the love that we have for each other. But as a result of that, the world may hate us. People who do not know Christ act like people who do not know Christ. We should never expect otherwise. Regardless of how people treat us, we can treat them with love and compassion and show them the same mercy that Christ has shown us. In fact, why would they believe that Christ can show them mercy if people who claim to follow Christ can’t show mercy? Are we living out Christ’s love to others, even when they hate us back?