December 4 – Hate

He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.' When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.  John 15:23-27 

Hate is such an awful word. Hate is such an awful feeling—to hate or to be hated. Hating Jesus without a cause is now history—but it must have been heart wrenching for the disciples and His followers at that time. And the feeling of rejection that went along with the hatefulness that Jesus continually suffered could only have been endured by our Savior.  

It must have been confusing for the disciples to understand about the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of truth that Jesus was talking about. Now we just take for granted the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There was a great discussion about the Holy Spirit’s role in our live just this last Sunday in the Sunday School class I attend. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives, filling us, when we accept Jesus as our Savior and make Him Lord of our lives. He continues to dwell within us always. We just feel that the presence of the Spirit more at some time than at others because we are yielding more of ourselves—and thus allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through us. More of Him and less of us. That is what I want—more of Him and less of “me”.  

Thank you Jesus for taking on the rejection of the world as well as the forgiveness of our sins—just for us—for our salvation. Take my life and use me to serve others—to direct them to You.

© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).