John 15:20

For Reading and Meditation:     John 15:12-27

We continue meditating on the eighth and final Beatitude. One of the questions that has often puzzled people concerning this matter of suffering and persecution is this: Why is it that Christians, when they do good, are often persecuted, while non-Christians who do the same kind of good are adored? One commentator...

For Reading and Meditation:     2 Timothy 3:12-17

We continue from where we left off yesterday in saying that persecution is one of the proofs that we are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many Christians find great difficulty in coming to terms with this issue of persecution, and because they have never understood that those who reject Christ will also...

For Reading and Meditation:     Acts 15:1-21

Salvation is the word Christians use to describe the experience of sins being forgiven and receiving the gift of eternal life. Conversion is the word to describe the way we enter into that experience. Other religions also use the word conversion, but usually what they mean by it is the act of changing from one religion...

You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. § If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. § I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and...

I have come to “set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law… A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” § Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. § Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the...