it's late

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin,but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: 'They hated me without a cause.'

26"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning." John 15: 18-27

To be really short and sweet, because I haven't really processed it all yet, I tire of Christians who think that our journey with Christ is a walk in the park. He suffered to save us and grant us salvation, and we think our lives are suddenly supposed to be easy. I wonder if we think we're somehow entitled to a life with no real burdens or pain. Not so. This passage is proof that we will face hard times, but our suffering is for His glory and our good. (I stole that last bit from my college pastor...) I won't pretend to know what that looks like, but I'll stand (ok, sit) here as a testimony and say that the worst times in my life have been the times of the most growth. Those are the moments when the Lord tells me, "Let Me handle this; I can do more with it than you can." Those are the moments I know that He is good and faithful, all the time. It's in those moments that I know His love.

(I'll ponder this some more and get back to it...)