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John 15:18 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you."

 

I never felt hated by anyone, much less by the world, until about five years ago. I used to think I had no enemies! I knew that Jesus told us to pray for our enemies, so I would try to think of who mine were so I could pray for them, but I couldn't think of anyone. Looking back, I realize that was a really naive way for me to be looking at the world. I had no idea of the true nature of evil, and its insidious way of blinding us to the truth.

 

We are at war. We always have had enemies who hate us, and we always will until the end of all of this. Our true enemies, though, are fallen principalities and powers, not our fellow man. The human enemies we are to pray for are those who have succumbed to the deceptions or temptations of the devil, and are hurting us or others because of that. Jesus wants to save them as much as He wants to save us, so we pray for them to see the light, experience repentance, and receive His unfathomable mercy. And we cannot forget that at some point we have been someone else's enemy. We have all succumbed to the deceptions and temptations of the devil and hurt others. We should hope that they are praying for us!

 

I was not in a good place when I thought everything was wonderful and I had no enemies because that meant I was allowing myself to be deceived, to be blinded to the evil and hatred in this world. When looking at the beauty of creation, and living the kind of lives most of us in this country are privileged to live, it is difficult to think that we are actually living under a cloud of sin, separated from what is truly good and beautiful. But understanding that the battle with evil is ongoing is essential if we are going to carry out our missions well. It may take feeling like the world hates us before we wake up to the nature of our enemy. It did for me, but I don't know why I ever expected better treatment than what Jesus received.