Scripture

Our verse for today comes from John 7:7, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil.”

Background

At my oldest daughter’s Upward basketball practice, one of my younger daughters and I were rolling a small ball that had a red flashing light inside it around the gym floor to each other. I would roll the ball at something somewhere across the gym, and she would run and get it and then try to roll it back. When I rolled it a couple times near these young kids who were playing at the extra basket, she came running back over to me, visibly shaken up. She said that one boy had said something bad to her both times she went over there, and she didn’t want me to roll the ball back that way again. And so, the world had spoken. This six-year-old boy, who had two brief encounters with my daughter, had taken both opportunities to be mean to her. Now, my daughter is no more saintly than any other, and who’s to say that she hasn’t done the same thing to some other stranger at some point? But regardless, the joy we were experiencing with each other was squashed, at least momentarily, as the world took aim at one of God’s creations simply reflecting her Father’s glory.

Application

And now I ask, can the world hate you? Can it hate me? Is there anything in my life that testifies that the works of the world are evil? If we believed that the world was evil, our love for Jesus would drive us to take a remedy to it. When something is broken, you don’t just talk about how it doesn’t work or reflect on the days when it was working. You testify best that it’s broken by doing something to fix it. Otherwise, you’re saying that its condition is just fine the way it is. Satan spreads contentment and cheap satisfaction to all who will buy it in hopes of squelching any desire that may arise to undo what has been done. The world cannot hate what it is consuming, but are we oblivious to its appetite? Are we too afraid or too comfortable to get off of that slippery slope? 2026 offers us a new day to testify to the world that Jesus is what they need. But He’s not an app that you can download for free. He’s not a church you attend. He’s the God who made you and the Father that loves you. Let’s see if the world hates that.

Charge

As we seek Him today, commit to God all that you have.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words

Distributed by – BCWorldview.org