1 John 3:13-15

1 John 3:13-15

Do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you all.  We have known that we have changed out of death into life because we love the brothers.  The ones who do not love remain in death.  Everyone who hates his brothers is a murderer and you all have known that every murderer does not have eternal life that remains in him.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

In the opening verse for this section we hear John tell his audience to not marvel when the world hates people who put their faith in God.  The word marvel in this instance means “to be surprised at finding out” or even “to not see a particular outcome coming.”  If we think about this, it really should make some sense.  In the Old Testament, the prophets were largely scorned and rejected – at best they were seen as odd eccentrics.  John the Baptizer was looked upon with skepticism and ultimately killed.  When Jesus came, the hatred for Him was so profound that the religious leaders turned the crowd upon Him and crucified Him.  John has also watched as many of Jesus’ own disciples have been martyred.  He knows the truth.  The world hates Jesus and those who humble themselves to God’s agenda.  It always has.  We are not to be caught off guard by this realization.

Knowing this, have you ever been caught off-guard by hatred coming from people you thought should love you in Christian brotherhood?  Why is it easy to be lured into this?

Second Thought:

John takes this thought one step further to remind us of a lesson we have been talking about for a few days now.  We know God is in us by our ability to love.  In fact, think about God’s love.  God loved us when we were still sinners.  When there was nothing to love about us, God loved us.  So how do we know that we are following Him?  When we find ourselves loving the unloveable, we are truly acting out of God and not acting out of our own human capability.  When we love in circumstances that we really have every reason to hate, we are demonstrating that we have been changed from death (flesh) to life (spiritual).

Have you been changed from death to life?  Where can you see evidence of this in your life?

Third Thought:

John carries the theme of murder from the example of Cain into his expanded point in these verses.  Cain murdered because of the selfishness that lived in his heart.  But this is not just a point that John has developed.  Surely this is a teaching that John heard at the feet of Jesus.  Read the words of the synoptic Gospels regarding Jesus’ teaching about anger in Matthew 5:21-22.  And there Jesus isn’t even talking about hatred, he’s just talking about anger!  There can be little doubt when comparing what John says here to what Jesus Himself says in Matthew that this is a teaching that John got from Jesus Himself.  The truth is that we all know that murder is bad.  John tells us that the person who hates is just as bad as a murderer.  Jesus tells us that someone who is angry is just as bad.  If we want eternal life, we must love as God loves rather than bearing the anger and hatred that is natural to our being.

How hard is your anger to control?  Can you control when you feel anger?  What about your anger and hatred can you control?  How does this struggle help us see how our relationship with God affects our life?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 John 3:16-18