Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

1Jn 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

Marvel not.

Don't be surprised.

We cannot be shocked by the hate we receive when we truly love God and out of that love- love our fellow man.

Have you felt the hate? I don't think I have, not like I know others around the world have been and are being hated by others.

Being a Christian in an Islamic dominated country like Iran and others in the Middle East, and even in Africa- is often something that takes amazing courage. When those Christians read these words- 'Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.' When they read these words they understand in a very real way. They live seeing the hatred in their fellow man's eyes. They live hearing the hate-filled words spewed at them in anger. They feel the sting of stones, bullets, fire, fists as they are beaten senselessly all because they love God, all because they love their SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

And they are told not to be surprised, not to marvel when they are hated.

I sit here and I marvel at it, even after I'm told not to because I don't live in that existence, it's foreign to me.

Marvel not if the world hates me!

Oh, how much time we spend wanting NOT to be hated! Not that we all want everyone in the entire world to like us, we know better than that, but the majority of people aren't living a life where they actively want others to despise them. As we grow up, go to school - preschool, kindergarten, elementary levels, middle school, high school, college- we do NOT want to make enemies as a rule. We tend to try and find a few good people to become friends with and the rest we want to co-exist without any trouble. We do NOT want to be hated.

Yet we are to MARVEL NOT if the WORLD HATES US!

And the world will hate us why? Because we LOVE!

Because we LOVE we are hated.

And it's not a hidden love, it's a known love. A love others know we have in us, a REAL love, a POWERFUL love, CHRIST'S LOVE! How will then know of this love we have, they'll know because we love THEM, we truly LOVE them, with Christ's LOVE.