John 15:18- "When you think the world hates you, remember it has hated me first."
He was hated from the time of His birth to the time of His death, but that never stopped Him from doing good. John 15:18 can be used to relate to our everyday lives, to make sense of things. We have all had our fair share of days where we think the world is out to get us, no matter what you do. You try so hard to get things right and please everyone, but it still does not seem like enough.
There’s the saying, you can be the ripest juiciest peach in the world, but there will still be someone who hates peaches. Sometimes we feel like doing the right thing will get us disliked by our peers, if we don’t join in on gossiping about others then we will be talked about, or if someone does wrong to us then they deserve to be treated the same way. But it is not about what you deserve, it’s about what you believe because an eye for eye leaves the whole world blind.
Just because someone else acts wrongfully towards others, does not mean you need to, in order for them to like you. I have seen group dynamics amongst friends that portray this concept. Three of the four girls in a clique will gossip and laugh about others, but the fourth will stick to her morals and values by refraining from that activity. Unfortunately, she is their next victim. This girl gets befriended. She now has to go through the torture of hearing whispers any time she walks by the other girls. She has to bite her tongue from speaking poorly about the other girls, but this is the right thing to do. She is not stooping to their level. She would rather be hated by them, lose friends, and suffer the agony of being bullied, rather than putting others down for no reason, except boredom.
Doing the right thing all the time might not feel good if you end up being the fourth girl getting befriended, but it will be good. Be sure that is your goodness and not your evils that others dislike.
