SE Students - Be the Branch - Part 5Sample

Imagine being a little kid again. You just did something wrong. Like terribly wrong. Like you hear the stomping of your approaching parent and you know you’re in trouble wrong. They ask, “Why did you do that?” Most of us would fumble words around until we settled for, “I don’t know.”

Most of the time there is no reason for the wrongs we commit. The same is true of the hate we experience for our faith in Jesus. That group of people has no reason to leave you out of the group message just because you love Jesus. That teammate has no reason to avoid you every day during school. That person has no reason to comment on your post or block you because of your faith.

Jesus told His disciples, “They hated me without reason.” It blows my mind that Jesus died for people who hated Him for no reason.

If we are following the way of Jesus, what does that mean for us when people hate us for no reason? Knowing Jesus, it probably requires us to do something crazy like love our enemy. Read Matthew 5:44 and ask yourself, “What is one way I can love through the hate today?”