Contemplative Bible Reading

1 John 3:11-13 (New Living Translation)

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

Let’s start at the end—as Christians, we shouldn’t be surprised when those outside of Christ hate us. It has been this way since the beginning, the hatred of the unrighteous towards the righteous.

Recall Cain and Abel. (Back up a step in the above verses.) Abel had been righteous; Cain had not. Cain’s hatred of the righteous brother led him to murder.

In America today, we are fortunate—the vast majority of us are. The unrighteous don’t murder the righteous (again, the vast majority).

Hate? Do the unrighteous still hate the righteous? We don’t like to use the word “hate” when it comes to religious belief in America, but…

Back up one last time in the above verses: we should love one another. Simply said, easily said, but easily done? Please God, help me in my unbelief.