"Marvel Not if the World Hates You"~ If you've read my paper titled, "We Are The Light"then I guess that this is kind of a second paper to go along with it. First, I'm gonna start off with a testimony of something awesome God did.This particular morning I had started off the day by reading the book of 1 John. One of the verses that really stuck out to me was 1 John 3:13 which states,"Marvel not if the world hate you". After I read that I immediately started to think of other verses that tied into that one. Verses like John 15:18 ("If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you."), or John 7:7 ("The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works therof are evil."), and also Luke 6:22 ("Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake."). Okay, so with that in mind, let's fast forward a couple hours to when my family and I were at the local skate park. It's kind of funny that when I witness to people I actually start making friends. And I also build a rapport with people I see out here often so I can find a chance to witness to them. Almost everyone out there gets at least a tract from one of us, and all of them have definitely read the Scripture magnets posted all over our Vehicle. Who can miss them?! LOL I jumped out of the truck and waved a hello to Greg, a 14 year old boy I've witnessed to and given tracts to as well. I thought back to the time I first met him (about a month back I think). . . I had approached him with the intent to witness to him, and it had turned into an AMAZING conversation! He even stated a little later that he was so glad I had made him think about eternity and things like that because he never had before. And then he even wanted a tract for his sister, and told me he wished I could talk to her too! A few days later I was casually talking with Greg and his 15 year old friend Robby when I asked Robby if he would go get his friend "Devin" (also 15) so I could talk to them about something (as you've probably guessed-I wanted to witness to them both). Robby was like "What! Why?!" Then Greg goes (to my obvious delight) "Hey! Just do it man!" So, Robby reluctantly skated off to get Devin. I could hear him off in the distance saying, "Hey Devin! This weird girl wants to talk to us!" Then Greg (who was still sitting there) looked at me with this ABSOLUTELY hilarious expression on his face and goes,
"I know what you're doing!"
I was kind of shocked."You do?"
"Yeah. You're gonna talk to them about all the stuff you talked to me about right?"
"Yes!" I laughed."How'd you know?"
"Oh, I just did."I could have busted out laughing! That, coupled with Robby labeling me as a "weird girl", and Greg practically ordering him to get his friend, was just too,too funny! Well, anyways,back to the skate park. . . I struggled to lift the heavy door and pull my beautiful blue long board (okay, is not actually mine -it's really my Dad's-but he lets me and my sis borrow it until we get our own) out of the back of the truck, and skipped over to the park. It was a gorgeous day despite it being just a tad chilly, so there were quite a few people out, including little kids climbing all over the ramps, which is pretty annoying seeing there's a nice and practically new playground not 15 feet away! And you really have to be careful because mindless kids can cause you to wreck hurting you and themselves. I started to skate around avoiding kids, crazy skaters (who could KILL you!), and one of the most deadly things (though quite small) the dreaded rock!I hate hitting those things! You can be flying around having a blast when outta nowhere jam into one of them- the board definitely stops-but you don't! Many a skinned knee and scraped up hand have occurred following a "rock accident". It was then that I noticed "Laura". "Laura" is a girl (about 16 or 17) whom I've seen out here a few times. She's just learning how to skateboard as well, so because of that connection I've gotten to talk to her, and now we know each other. "Hey Laura!" I called long boarding over to where she and another guy (her friend) were."Oh, hey Honour! How are you?" "Doing great! And you?""Oh, I'm good.""Learned anything new?" "Well. . . not really." She sighed.The last time I had seen her she had been lamenting the fact that she had no one to learn skateboarding with, and now she (with a happy face) related how she finally persuaded her friend "Zach" to skate with her. They both have literally just started skate boarding and since I've been doing it for about a month or two, and thanks to my awesome teacher (My Dad!) and to my overly energetic eagerness to learn more (lol), I've progressed quite a bit. So, she was asking me questions and advice, ranging from things like,"Do you know why my wheels are spinning slow?" Or," How do you do this trick?" To me telling her to NEVER buy a board from Wal-mart,etc. And so we chatted for a little while and then parted ways. Her to continue skating and me to go do what I like to call "Wearing my little sister out at the park time". That's a joke because in reality, she proceeded to tire me completely out with 500 (exaggeration-25) games of tag and hide-n-go-seek, running up and down the playground, tickling her when she came down the slides, pushing her "higher and higher" on the swings, and about 50 races to Mom and back, where (of course) she "beat" me every time!LOL Then with my turn finished I went back to long boarding. I felt like God was telling me to go ahead and witness to Laura, so I sat on the wooden bench that runs along one whole side of the park and waited for a chance to talk to her. She was skating and goofing around, and then I watched horrified as she attempted to skate board up a ramp dubbed "the camel hump" and then proceeded to fall flat on her face! I felt bad for her so I encouraged her to try going up the "baseball mound"instead (don't worry I was not trying to be evil (maw haw haw!)and see her fall again! This ramp is a very gentle sloping, flattish ramp that I can sail over smoothly). She succeeded in going about halfway up, jumping off, and (smiling sheepishly) walking back over to where I was standing. After a little bit I finally brought up eternal matters with this easy conversation starter. . .
"Hey guys! Can I ask y'all an interesting question?"
"Sure!" they both replied. But I could tell by Laura's face she knew where I was going instantly. "So, what do you think happens when you die?"
Laura seemed reluctant to answer but she finally stated bluntly, "I think you just go in the ground and that's it."
"Okay...and what about you Zach?"
"Well...I used to believe in God and all that stuff,but now I just think you go in the ground and that's it as well."
"So, basically you cease to exist right?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"So where do you get your information?"
Laura wouldn't so much as look at me, but Zach replied,"Really nowhere. I just kinda thought of it myself I guess."
"Okay, well let me ask you this,how d you know you're right?"While I was asking this question Laura finally skated off really angry."Come on Zach!" She called- but he wasn't listening. I was kind of disappointed because Laura was the one I had initially wanted to talk to, but I knew Zach's soul was just as important.
"Well, I don't think I'm right. I really don't know.I don't think anyone can be right about that!" He really looked confused.
"Do you have any religious background?"
"Yes. I grew up southern Baptist, and both of my parents are southern Baptist."
I quickly realized my time was running out because Laura kept skating by and calling Zach to come get some water, and she seemed extremely angry! I decided to get right down to the point. "Well. obviously I believe in Heaven or Hell (I'm sure you've seen our Bible magnets!*). Now you said that you're not really sure if there is a heaven or hell, let's just say there's a heaven, do you think you'd be good enough to go there?"
"Oh yeah! Sure!" (that's Proverbs 20:6 ** in action right there folks!)
"Well, I'm sure you've heard of the ten commandments right?"
He nodded his head."Yes."So how many of them can you name?" He then proceeded to name 8 out of 10! I was shocked!
"Wow! You do know them!"
"Yep!" He laughed."Well, I'm gonna take you through a few of them to see how good you really are. Have you ever told a lie?"
"Yes."
"What does that make you if you tell lies?"
"Ummm...a sinner?"
"Well...a little more specifically. If someone murders someone they're a "murderer", so if you tell lies you're a. . ."
"Liar!" He about shouted it!
"Yes! That's it.Have you ever stolen anything?"
"Yes." "What does that make you?"
"A thief."
"One of the commandments you forgot to name is, "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain". Ever used God's holy name as a curse word?
"Yes."
"Well, that's called blasphemy."
He nodded his head. "Yeah."
"Here's one that gets a lot of people, You quoted me the commandment "thou shalt not commit adultery". But Jesus said that whosoever looks at a women to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart. See, Jesus has high standards. Ever looked at someone with lust?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you've just admitted to me that you're a lying, thieving, blasphemer, and adulterer at heart." Strangely enough he looked delighted! "If you were to face God on judgement day do you think you'd be innocent or guilty?"
"Well....I'd be guilty. But God forgives right?" You should have seen his face- he thought he had me!
"Yes, God does forgive, but there's something we have to do it's called "repentance". Do you know what "repentance" means?"
"Uhhh...." He tried to think.
"Here, let me help you. You know the "180 trick"?" BTW-I really enjoy using this word picture with skateboarders!
"Yeah..."
"Well, that's what repentance is, it's doing a "180" (or totally turning away) from your sins." His eyes lighted up. It really made sense to him! Suddenly I heard some laughter off to the side. It was some teen aged skaters listening in on the conversation and apparently they had liked my using of the 180 trick to explain repentance! I thought that was neat. But then my spirits plummeted, out of the corner of my eye I could see Laura angrily making her way towards us again!"Oh no!" I thought. "Better Hurry!"
"So, do you know the gospel? Do you know what Jesus did for you?"
"Yes I do."
"Well. . ." I began but was suddenly cut off by Laura yelling,"We're Jewish and we need water! Bye!" She then tried to pull Zach towards the sidewalk that led to the water fountain. He jerked away and looked at me apologetically as she skated away once again.
"I'm sorry! I don't know what's gotten into her. But I really better get. I REALLY appreciate you what you're doing, you talking to me, and stepping out like this. It was good! Sorry!"
"That's okay, but Zach, the real reason I wanted to talk to y'all is because I don't want y'all to go to hell when you die, I want to see you both in heaven. And you know what else? Love Warns!" That really seemed to register in his mind and leave an impact on him. You could tell that he felt really bad.
"So are you really Jewish?" I asked with a smile."I'm not, but she is." "Oh, okay! Well, please tell Laura that I'm not mad at her at all, and that I said "bye".
"Oh, I definitely will! And I don't think she's mad at you. Thanks! Bye!" He skated off to join her and for the rest of the time she wouldn't so much as look at me, and just had this immense hatred for me! It was amazing! And when my Dad and I would try to talk to her she would completely ignore us. When we were finally leaving I ran over to Zach with two tracts and asked if he would please read one and give the other to Laura. He said he sure would and bid me a nice day. I watched from the truck as he handed it to her. She looked at it for a quick second and then set it down on the wooden bench where it immediately blew off. I felt really bad for her. Why was she so hard? And why did she hate me so much? Then Zach walked over and picked up the tract where it was laying in the gravel and put it in his pocket with his tract. "Well good for him!" I thought. And then all of a sudden everything dawned on me. I wasn't supposed to marvel if she hated me. She wasn't even hating me! She was hating the spirit within me. She was hating Jesus! All of the verses from that morning flashed through my min. I was blessed because she hated me! Wow! I began to thank and praise God, and also pray for Zach and Laura's souls. God had prepared me for that that whole incident that very morning! I was awestruck. God can truly do AMAZING things, and what an AWESOME God we serve! And that's not the only thing he's done . I could give you thousands of testimonies where God has moved. If you let God work in your life (and ask him to!) you'll definitely see it- that's for certain! So, I say all that to say ( and yes, I do know that that was a LOT to say! lol) Just to talk about this. . . "The world hating you".~I think one of the worst fears in witnessing is rejection. We feel like if we're rejected we're a loser. We'll feel like they just hate us SOOO much! And sometimes you will get rejected and it may seem like they hate you. But the majority of the time they will want to talk (take Zach for an example). Hey! Don't marvel if they hate you! For one, it's gonna happen. But for two, it's the spirit and devils inside them that hate and abhorr the spirit inside you-Jesus. They will literally hate you without a cause and they don't even know why. They have no reason whatsoever to hate you and guess what?! They don't even understand why they hate you! But we know. It's Jesus. Take John 15:18 and John 7:7 for an example. They hated Jesus before you anyways, and even while they think they're hating you, they're really just still hating Jesus.When you're holy,Spirit filled,and walking with God, the world (and definitely the Devil!) will absolutely abhorr you! You are the light. You stand out.And you want to make a difference in this evil and dark world. And they HATE it! Expect it, but don't let it discourage you. Because you know what? God LOVES it! God's gonna literally bless you when they hate you, and you're storing up rewards in heaven.I'd rather be a fool in the world's eyes then a fool in the Lord's eyes. Wouldn't you? I'm a fool for Christ and I LOVE it! Plus, you're not a loser when they reject you. You're a winner every single time! They can reject you,they can talk to you, or you can just plant a little seed, and you get rewards in heaven for every one! Come on guys, isn't that awesome?! Don't be afraid of rejection, and DO NOT marvel if they hate you. Another thing I want to talk about is this: if the world doesn't hate you then there's something seriously wrong! The world should look at you and say something like this. . ."Man that girl's weird! She has this light in her eyes I've never seen anywhere else.She witnesses to everything that moves, and gives tracts out like candy. She dresses differently, kinda modest I guess. She's not out trying to attract the opposite sex, or be flirtatious with every guy who walks by. She talks about God a lot, in fact she doesn't talk like the world at all! Her car has Bible messages all over it (and no, they were NOT looking at a fancy political sticker or that "brazen bold" stand with that "Jesus" fish with the cross in it!). And just the other day I saw her standing on a street corner yelling like a maniac that "Jesus can save me" and that "Love warns!" "Oh yeah", the other guy goes,"I was in the mall sitting on a bench when she approached me and wanted to witness to me! And every time I see her (I live on her street) she's obeying her parents,loving her siblings,and trying to act just like Jesus.I rarely see her sin. I've even heard her say that she's actually trying to be holy! Imagine that. That girl's not right in the head. As a matter of fact- I HATE her! These things should be said about guys too-I'm not just trying to pick on the girls! And all this is for me as well, I'm not trying to say I'm a perfect Christain example. But here's a little poem thingy that I got from my Dad: "If the world doesn't think you odd,you're not walking with God." Let me say that again. "If the world doesn't think you odd (yes odd!),you're not walking with God." Yesiree! If the world loves you, you better get closer and closer to God folks! Or even more serious, make sure that you're even saved.Don't take it lightly! God is not coming back for a lukewarm,laodicean,church bride. And not onlt should the world not love us, we should NOT be loving the world! 1 John 2:15-17 states,"Love not the world, nethier the things that are in the world. ("things" does include your precious ipod, or cell phone, or anything that can keep you from loving God more than this world!) If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust therof:but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." God should be MORE precious to you than ANYTHING in this world. Expect persecution and hatred (which is nothing compared with the real persecution of the earlier saints). Rise up and take a stand! Let the world hate you (yes, you did read that right!). Who cares? We're pleasing God and that's all that matters in this life. You'll see God's blessings and approval on your life, and man's lousy approval won't even come close to comparing with it. We're not here to please mere dust, we're here to please, and glorify, and praise, and serve God, and him ALONE! Live for God because that's all that matters! Marvel Not If the World Hates You! Love Love Love y'all!<3
~Honour Purity
*One of our Bible magnets says,"If you died tonight would you be in heaven or hell?" **Proverbs 20:6 says,"Most men will procalim everyone his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?"
"I know what you're doing!"
I was kind of shocked."You do?"
"Yeah. You're gonna talk to them about all the stuff you talked to me about right?"
"Yes!" I laughed."How'd you know?"
"Oh, I just did."I could have busted out laughing! That, coupled with Robby labeling me as a "weird girl", and Greg practically ordering him to get his friend, was just too,too funny! Well, anyways,back to the skate park. . . I struggled to lift the heavy door and pull my beautiful blue long board (okay, is not actually mine -it's really my Dad's-but he lets me and my sis borrow it until we get our own) out of the back of the truck, and skipped over to the park. It was a gorgeous day despite it being just a tad chilly, so there were quite a few people out, including little kids climbing all over the ramps, which is pretty annoying seeing there's a nice and practically new playground not 15 feet away! And you really have to be careful because mindless kids can cause you to wreck hurting you and themselves. I started to skate around avoiding kids, crazy skaters (who could KILL you!), and one of the most deadly things (though quite small) the dreaded rock!I hate hitting those things! You can be flying around having a blast when outta nowhere jam into one of them- the board definitely stops-but you don't! Many a skinned knee and scraped up hand have occurred following a "rock accident". It was then that I noticed "Laura". "Laura" is a girl (about 16 or 17) whom I've seen out here a few times. She's just learning how to skateboard as well, so because of that connection I've gotten to talk to her, and now we know each other. "Hey Laura!" I called long boarding over to where she and another guy (her friend) were."Oh, hey Honour! How are you?" "Doing great! And you?""Oh, I'm good.""Learned anything new?" "Well. . . not really." She sighed.The last time I had seen her she had been lamenting the fact that she had no one to learn skateboarding with, and now she (with a happy face) related how she finally persuaded her friend "Zach" to skate with her. They both have literally just started skate boarding and since I've been doing it for about a month or two, and thanks to my awesome teacher (My Dad!) and to my overly energetic eagerness to learn more (lol), I've progressed quite a bit. So, she was asking me questions and advice, ranging from things like,"Do you know why my wheels are spinning slow?" Or," How do you do this trick?" To me telling her to NEVER buy a board from Wal-mart,etc. And so we chatted for a little while and then parted ways. Her to continue skating and me to go do what I like to call "Wearing my little sister out at the park time". That's a joke because in reality, she proceeded to tire me completely out with 500 (exaggeration-25) games of tag and hide-n-go-seek, running up and down the playground, tickling her when she came down the slides, pushing her "higher and higher" on the swings, and about 50 races to Mom and back, where (of course) she "beat" me every time!LOL Then with my turn finished I went back to long boarding. I felt like God was telling me to go ahead and witness to Laura, so I sat on the wooden bench that runs along one whole side of the park and waited for a chance to talk to her. She was skating and goofing around, and then I watched horrified as she attempted to skate board up a ramp dubbed "the camel hump" and then proceeded to fall flat on her face! I felt bad for her so I encouraged her to try going up the "baseball mound"instead (don't worry I was not trying to be evil (maw haw haw!)and see her fall again! This ramp is a very gentle sloping, flattish ramp that I can sail over smoothly). She succeeded in going about halfway up, jumping off, and (smiling sheepishly) walking back over to where I was standing. After a little bit I finally brought up eternal matters with this easy conversation starter. . .
"Hey guys! Can I ask y'all an interesting question?"
"Sure!" they both replied. But I could tell by Laura's face she knew where I was going instantly. "So, what do you think happens when you die?"
Laura seemed reluctant to answer but she finally stated bluntly, "I think you just go in the ground and that's it."
"Okay...and what about you Zach?"
"Well...I used to believe in God and all that stuff,but now I just think you go in the ground and that's it as well."
"So, basically you cease to exist right?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"So where do you get your information?"
Laura wouldn't so much as look at me, but Zach replied,"Really nowhere. I just kinda thought of it myself I guess."
"Okay, well let me ask you this,how d you know you're right?"While I was asking this question Laura finally skated off really angry."Come on Zach!" She called- but he wasn't listening. I was kind of disappointed because Laura was the one I had initially wanted to talk to, but I knew Zach's soul was just as important.
"Well, I don't think I'm right. I really don't know.I don't think anyone can be right about that!" He really looked confused.
"Do you have any religious background?"
"Yes. I grew up southern Baptist, and both of my parents are southern Baptist."
I quickly realized my time was running out because Laura kept skating by and calling Zach to come get some water, and she seemed extremely angry! I decided to get right down to the point. "Well. obviously I believe in Heaven or Hell (I'm sure you've seen our Bible magnets!*). Now you said that you're not really sure if there is a heaven or hell, let's just say there's a heaven, do you think you'd be good enough to go there?"
"Oh yeah! Sure!" (that's Proverbs 20:6 ** in action right there folks!)
"Well, I'm sure you've heard of the ten commandments right?"
He nodded his head."Yes."So how many of them can you name?" He then proceeded to name 8 out of 10! I was shocked!
"Wow! You do know them!"
"Yep!" He laughed."Well, I'm gonna take you through a few of them to see how good you really are. Have you ever told a lie?"
"Yes."
"What does that make you if you tell lies?"
"Ummm...a sinner?"
"Well...a little more specifically. If someone murders someone they're a "murderer", so if you tell lies you're a. . ."
"Liar!" He about shouted it!
"Yes! That's it.Have you ever stolen anything?"
"Yes." "What does that make you?"
"A thief."
"One of the commandments you forgot to name is, "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain". Ever used God's holy name as a curse word?
"Yes."
"Well, that's called blasphemy."
He nodded his head. "Yeah."
"Here's one that gets a lot of people, You quoted me the commandment "thou shalt not commit adultery". But Jesus said that whosoever looks at a women to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart. See, Jesus has high standards. Ever looked at someone with lust?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you've just admitted to me that you're a lying, thieving, blasphemer, and adulterer at heart." Strangely enough he looked delighted! "If you were to face God on judgement day do you think you'd be innocent or guilty?"
"Well....I'd be guilty. But God forgives right?" You should have seen his face- he thought he had me!
"Yes, God does forgive, but there's something we have to do it's called "repentance". Do you know what "repentance" means?"
"Uhhh...." He tried to think.
"Here, let me help you. You know the "180 trick"?" BTW-I really enjoy using this word picture with skateboarders!
"Yeah..."
"Well, that's what repentance is, it's doing a "180" (or totally turning away) from your sins." His eyes lighted up. It really made sense to him! Suddenly I heard some laughter off to the side. It was some teen aged skaters listening in on the conversation and apparently they had liked my using of the 180 trick to explain repentance! I thought that was neat. But then my spirits plummeted, out of the corner of my eye I could see Laura angrily making her way towards us again!"Oh no!" I thought. "Better Hurry!"
"So, do you know the gospel? Do you know what Jesus did for you?"
"Yes I do."
"Well. . ." I began but was suddenly cut off by Laura yelling,"We're Jewish and we need water! Bye!" She then tried to pull Zach towards the sidewalk that led to the water fountain. He jerked away and looked at me apologetically as she skated away once again.
"I'm sorry! I don't know what's gotten into her. But I really better get. I REALLY appreciate you what you're doing, you talking to me, and stepping out like this. It was good! Sorry!"
"That's okay, but Zach, the real reason I wanted to talk to y'all is because I don't want y'all to go to hell when you die, I want to see you both in heaven. And you know what else? Love Warns!" That really seemed to register in his mind and leave an impact on him. You could tell that he felt really bad.
"So are you really Jewish?" I asked with a smile."I'm not, but she is." "Oh, okay! Well, please tell Laura that I'm not mad at her at all, and that I said "bye".
"Oh, I definitely will! And I don't think she's mad at you. Thanks! Bye!" He skated off to join her and for the rest of the time she wouldn't so much as look at me, and just had this immense hatred for me! It was amazing! And when my Dad and I would try to talk to her she would completely ignore us. When we were finally leaving I ran over to Zach with two tracts and asked if he would please read one and give the other to Laura. He said he sure would and bid me a nice day. I watched from the truck as he handed it to her. She looked at it for a quick second and then set it down on the wooden bench where it immediately blew off. I felt really bad for her. Why was she so hard? And why did she hate me so much? Then Zach walked over and picked up the tract where it was laying in the gravel and put it in his pocket with his tract. "Well good for him!" I thought. And then all of a sudden everything dawned on me. I wasn't supposed to marvel if she hated me. She wasn't even hating me! She was hating the spirit within me. She was hating Jesus! All of the verses from that morning flashed through my min. I was blessed because she hated me! Wow! I began to thank and praise God, and also pray for Zach and Laura's souls. God had prepared me for that that whole incident that very morning! I was awestruck. God can truly do AMAZING things, and what an AWESOME God we serve! And that's not the only thing he's done . I could give you thousands of testimonies where God has moved. If you let God work in your life (and ask him to!) you'll definitely see it- that's for certain! So, I say all that to say ( and yes, I do know that that was a LOT to say! lol) Just to talk about this. . . "The world hating you".~I think one of the worst fears in witnessing is rejection. We feel like if we're rejected we're a loser. We'll feel like they just hate us SOOO much! And sometimes you will get rejected and it may seem like they hate you. But the majority of the time they will want to talk (take Zach for an example). Hey! Don't marvel if they hate you! For one, it's gonna happen. But for two, it's the spirit and devils inside them that hate and abhorr the spirit inside you-Jesus. They will literally hate you without a cause and they don't even know why. They have no reason whatsoever to hate you and guess what?! They don't even understand why they hate you! But we know. It's Jesus. Take John 15:18 and John 7:7 for an example. They hated Jesus before you anyways, and even while they think they're hating you, they're really just still hating Jesus.When you're holy,Spirit filled,and walking with God, the world (and definitely the Devil!) will absolutely abhorr you! You are the light. You stand out.And you want to make a difference in this evil and dark world. And they HATE it! Expect it, but don't let it discourage you. Because you know what? God LOVES it! God's gonna literally bless you when they hate you, and you're storing up rewards in heaven.I'd rather be a fool in the world's eyes then a fool in the Lord's eyes. Wouldn't you? I'm a fool for Christ and I LOVE it! Plus, you're not a loser when they reject you. You're a winner every single time! They can reject you,they can talk to you, or you can just plant a little seed, and you get rewards in heaven for every one! Come on guys, isn't that awesome?! Don't be afraid of rejection, and DO NOT marvel if they hate you. Another thing I want to talk about is this: if the world doesn't hate you then there's something seriously wrong! The world should look at you and say something like this. . ."Man that girl's weird! She has this light in her eyes I've never seen anywhere else.She witnesses to everything that moves, and gives tracts out like candy. She dresses differently, kinda modest I guess. She's not out trying to attract the opposite sex, or be flirtatious with every guy who walks by. She talks about God a lot, in fact she doesn't talk like the world at all! Her car has Bible messages all over it (and no, they were NOT looking at a fancy political sticker or that "brazen bold" stand with that "Jesus" fish with the cross in it!). And just the other day I saw her standing on a street corner yelling like a maniac that "Jesus can save me" and that "Love warns!" "Oh yeah", the other guy goes,"I was in the mall sitting on a bench when she approached me and wanted to witness to me! And every time I see her (I live on her street) she's obeying her parents,loving her siblings,and trying to act just like Jesus.I rarely see her sin. I've even heard her say that she's actually trying to be holy! Imagine that. That girl's not right in the head. As a matter of fact- I HATE her! These things should be said about guys too-I'm not just trying to pick on the girls! And all this is for me as well, I'm not trying to say I'm a perfect Christain example. But here's a little poem thingy that I got from my Dad: "If the world doesn't think you odd,you're not walking with God." Let me say that again. "If the world doesn't think you odd (yes odd!),you're not walking with God." Yesiree! If the world loves you, you better get closer and closer to God folks! Or even more serious, make sure that you're even saved.Don't take it lightly! God is not coming back for a lukewarm,laodicean,church bride. And not onlt should the world not love us, we should NOT be loving the world! 1 John 2:15-17 states,"Love not the world, nethier the things that are in the world. ("things" does include your precious ipod, or cell phone, or anything that can keep you from loving God more than this world!) If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust therof:but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." God should be MORE precious to you than ANYTHING in this world. Expect persecution and hatred (which is nothing compared with the real persecution of the earlier saints). Rise up and take a stand! Let the world hate you (yes, you did read that right!). Who cares? We're pleasing God and that's all that matters in this life. You'll see God's blessings and approval on your life, and man's lousy approval won't even come close to comparing with it. We're not here to please mere dust, we're here to please, and glorify, and praise, and serve God, and him ALONE! Live for God because that's all that matters! Marvel Not If the World Hates You! Love Love Love y'all!<3
~Honour Purity
*One of our Bible magnets says,"If you died tonight would you be in heaven or hell?" **Proverbs 20:6 says,"Most men will procalim everyone his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?"
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