Articles
Take Courage and Live for Jesus
Jesus wanted His disciples to remember something very important: the world hates Him and will hate them also. Because Jesus chose them to send His message out into the world, they will not love them. He makes this point more clear by reasoning that if they persecuted the Lord, then the servants of the Lord will experience the very same (Jn. 15.18-20).
This is not persecution for mere persecutions sake, however. Jesus let us all know that this was a suffering intended to be the purest form of service to all mankind, and He shows us the purest example of it – “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10.45)
This is our example. We, as the Lords servants, suffer. It is not suffering for the sake of suffering, but it is to suffer for the sake of serving. Is there anything positive here? This seems pretty bleak. Well, if you read the last portion of John 15.20, after Jesus gave the disciples the hard truth, He gave them some good news, “If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
There are some in this world who will listen to the teachings of Christ, and it makes sense to reason that some in the world will listen to us today. Take courage in the face of opposition. Don’t think there isn’t a world who cares - there are some souls waiting to hear from you.
